Understanding student course evaluation data.

1. Understanding Student Course
Evaluation Data
Tere Garza, Communication
Arcelia Hernandez, Education
Cindy Naples, Mathematics
Kris Sloan, Education
Julie Sievers, Center for Teaching Excellence
Brian Smith, Political Science
Alan Swinkels, Psychology
Paul Walter, Physics
Jeannetta Williams, Psychology
Center for Teaching Excellence | 27 February 2015

2. Basic Statistics
Or,
What do I do with these numbers?
Cindy Naples – Department of Mathematics

3. Criteria
Q1. The course learning objectives were clearly
communicated in written form

4. Count/Percentages
Undergraduate SP13 (top)
Individual SP13 (bottom)
Strongly Strongly
Disagree % Disagree % Agree % Agree %
113 1% 384 3% 3563 28% 8853 69%
1 4% 2 8% 6 23% 14 54%
Count Mean Median Mode Standard Deviation
12913 3.64 4 4 .59
26 3.5 4 4 .81

5. Percentages
Count/Total = percentage
So, for Strongly Agree:
Undergraduate
8853/12913 = .69 = 69%
Individual
14/26= 53.8%

6. How can we use percentages in a meaningful way?
Find the total undergraduate
Strongly Agree + Agree = 69% + 28% = 97%
Then, compare the total individual
Strongly Agree + Agree = 54% + 23% = 77%
for each criteria

7. Mean
(which is really a weighted mean)
The weighted mean for Q1 above:
Undergraduate Mean = 3.64
(113*1 + 384*2 + 3563*3 + 8853*4 )/12913 = 3.64
Individual Mean = 3.5
The mean alone is a very imprecise measure of
whether or not a teacher is doing a good job.

8. Why?
It’s not a resistant measure (easily skewed by
even one rogue value).

9. Example: 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4.
mean = 4
4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,3
mean = (4*14 + 3)/15 = 3.93

10. Median
The middle value of the dataset.
Half the data points are above the median; half are
below.
Example: 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,4,4,4,4: 12 values
The middle value is between the 6th and 7th value: 3.5
Undergraduate median for Q1 is 4
Individual median for Q1 is 4

11. Mode
The most frequently occurring value;
not a measure of center

12. Standard Deviation
A measure of the spread of a distribution.
For a normal distribution,

13. 68% of the data lies between
+1 and -1 standard deviations

14. 95% of the data lies between
+2 and -2 standard deviations

15. 99% of the data lies between
-3 and +3 standard deviations

16. Sampling Distribution of the Mean
If we have a population (like the population of all responses from
Q1.)

17. Then we
1. draw a simple random sample
n = 15 from the population
2. measure each individual
3. find the mean of this sample (like
collecting the means for all individual’s
on Q1.)
4. graph all the sample means44.

18. The result is the sampling distribution of the
mean
n mean
population 1000 4.025
sampling distribution 500 4.0159

19. 95% Confidence Interval
Put the mean, standard deviation information together with the
sampling distribution of the mean and build a 95% confidence
interval:
mean ± 1.96 * standard deviation / 𝑛
For the individual,
3.5 ± 1.96 *.81/ 26 = (3.19, 3.81)
Does this interval capture the population mean?
Await the next episode…

20. From the Learners:
Unique Perspectives on Your Teaching
Components of Teaching
Content expertise
The body of skills, competencies, and
knowledge in the specific subject
area to be taught in which the
faculty member has received
advanced education, training, and/or
experience.
Instructional design
Those technical skills in designing
and sequencing experiences which,
when engaged by a qualified learner,
result in a high probability that
specified learning outcomes will be
achieved by the student.
Instructional delivery
Human interactive skills and characteristics
that facilitate learning, including:
• the ability to motivate students,
• generate enthusiasm,
• and communicate effectively using
various forms of information
transmittal technology.
These skills can be further classified in
terms of:
• oral presentation skills,
• written communication skills,
• skills in using forms of IT,
• skills in facilitating interactive
classroom,
• skills in creating an overall learning
environment appropriate to subject.

21. Instructional assessment
Skills in developing tools,
procedures, and strategies for
assessing student learning and
providing meaningful feedback
to students.
From Arreola, R. A. 2007. Developing a
comprehensive faculty evaluation system.
San Francisco, CA: Anker.
Course management skills
Skills in configuring, maintaining, and managing
the resources and facilities required to provide an
appropriate teaching / learning environment.
Tasks include:
• ordering and configuring lab equipment;
• arranging for and coordinating guest lecturers;
• placing readings on library reserve;
• ensuring that appropriate software is loaded in
computers used by students;
• arranging field trips;
• monitoring and updating the course web site;
• grading exams;
• completing drop/add and incomplete grade
forms, and
• generally handling all the paper work that may
be required by the institution in conducting a
course.

23. Interpreting Qualitative SET Data
• Gather your own feedback
before you get the official
feedback (mid-course
evaluations, 1-minute evals at
end of specific class sessions).
• Take the context and
characteristics of your course
into account.
• Know that almost all faculty
members receive negative
feedback at some point in their
careers, including those who are
senior and highly successful.
• Look for patterns in students’
comments – identify trends, note
what you have done well and
what needs improvement.
• Know the most frequently
mentioned areas for teaching
improvement within and across
universities: 1) clearer, more
specific in-class communication;
and 2) clearer, more explicit
organization of course content.
• Schedule an appointment at the
CTE for a consultation to help you
interpret your evaluations.

24. Additional Resources
Further reading:
“Student Evaluations” –
the Vanderbilt University
Center for Teaching
View today’s slides:
Understanding Student
Course Evaluations – the
Center for Teaching
Excellence News Blog:
think.stedwards.edu/cte/blog