ABSTRACT
Is student learning associated with the evaluations?
Of all the definitions of “good” or “effective” teaching, most would assume it is related to what students learn. Although students generally do not list learning as an essential characteristic of good instruction, students’ perception of learning is positively related to SET. However, learning, as the term is used here, refers to a change in performance due to instruction, and is only marginally associated with perceived learning. The literature suggests a relationship between learning and SET might have existed in the past, but currently, research from numerous sources and venues have found the correlation between objective learning and SET to be essentially zero. The evaluations do not differentiate between instructors whose students are learning from those whose students are not learning. In fact, higher evaluations in a class are associated with poorer student performance in subsequent classes. There is limited evidence suggesting students will reward learning performance if it is needed to achieve an important goal outside of class, such as passing a standardized exam. Although there have been attempts to minimize the importance of learning in the SET process, the lack of association presents a serious challenge to the validity of the evaluations.
