Newsletter august 2024: Teaching evaluation

Teaching evaluation

Evaluating teaching is, of course, always interesting, but right now it is particularly interesting for two reasons: For one, teaching evaluation, when intended to be used for developing teaching, can take place throughout the entire semester, and therefore it needs to be planned right from the start of the semester. This newsletter contains good ideas for evaluation methods, wchich teachers can integrate into the semester's teaching and supervision. Additionally, a project will be initiated this semester, aiming to update SDU's principles for teaching evaluation. As a teacher, head of study, head of department, student, or quality officer at SDU, you will be informed and partly involved in this project over the next six months.

Development of teaching through evaluations

Evaluation of teaching has many purposes, one of which is for the teacher to gather input to develop their teaching. This could be input on whether the course content is perceived as relevant by the students, or input on which learning activities are perceived as most beneficial for the students. It could also be input on whether the materials and instructions available on itslearning are accessible and clear to the students, or input on something entirely different.

Once the purpose of the evaluation is clear, and the type of input you are interested in has been determined, there are a range of possible methods to conduct the evaluation. This could be anything from polls, where students can anonymously answer questions about their understanding of a topic, to planning a reference group among the students, from whom the teacher can receive feedback throughout the semester. The evaluation can be written or oral, conducted with or without the teacher’s presence, mid-semester or continuously. Read more in the box to the right about different ways to evaluate teaching.

Note that the mentioned examples of the content and form of evaluation are all based on the premise the students as actors, i.e., it is the students who provide the teacher with input based on their experiences of teaching and learning. However, the development of teaching can, of course, also be achieved with input from other actors – the teacher themselves or colleagues. In such cases, it is different input (and different methods) but equally rewarding.

Revision of SDU's Principles for Teaching Evaluation

The second reason for focusing on teaching evaluation at the start of this semester is that SDU CTL has been asked to lead a project on revising SDU's principles for evaluation of educational elements. The project is part of the overall revision of SDU's quality system but also responds to the 2023 report by The Danish Accreditation Institution titled Står udbyttet mål med indsatsen? (Does the Outcome Match the Effort?) on student evaluations in higher education. The report highlights, among other things, that "there is a perception of increasing evaluation pressure and widespread evaluation fatigue, which challenges the value-creating effect of student evaluations." Many can likely relate to this.

In a subsequent note, The Danish Accreditation Institution clarified that while evaluations must be systematic and continuous, this does not necessarily mean that the same method or the same frequency should be applied to all educational activities or the entire institution. The project at SDU aims to establish common principles for what, who, when, how, and why evaluations are conducted at SDU.

There are always multiple purposes for a teaching evaluation, so the principles must accommodate the objectives of various stakeholders (including developers of teaching (e.g., teachers and students), developers of teachers (e.g., Head of Departments), and developers of education (e.g., Head of  studies).

Therefore, the group tasked with creating the principles consists of a department Head, a Head of study, a lecturer, a student, and a university pedagogical consultant. The group will start from the current central and local evaluation principles and draft a proposal, which will be discussed with the various stakeholders. The draft will then be adjusted and finally sent to the project group for the revision of SDU's quality policy for approval at the end of the year. 

If you want to know more about the revision project or need more good ideas on how to develop your teaching through evaluations, feel free to contact us at: sduup@sdu.dk

Wishing you an enjoyable and successful teaching and evaluation experience in the upcoming semester!