ABSTRACT
We first identify several sources and varieties of evaluative information about teachers' teaching and then look at some of the ways they can most profitably use that information to become a better teacher. The teachers can get evaluative feedback on their performance as a teacher from four main sources: students, colleagues in teachers' department and in other psychology departments, faculty development activities, and themselves. Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are being collected—and are sometimes required—at about 94 percent of US colleges and universities. Collecting formative evaluations can even affect students’ impressions of faculty in general by countering the prevailing view that teachers ignore the evaluations they are forced to collect at the end of the term. Another way to gather information about teaching is through feedback sessions in the classroom conducted by a member of their institution’s teaching center or by another instructor who is not involved with the class.
