Higher Education Instructors’ Usage of and Learning From Student Evaluations of Teaching – Do Achievement Goals Matter?

Abstract

Identifying what motivates and hinders higher education instructors in their self-regulated learning from student evaluations of teaching (SETs) is important for improving future teaching and facilitating student learning. According to models of self-regulated learning, we propose a model for the usage of SETs as a learning situation. In a longitudinal study, we investigate the associations between achievement goals and the usage of and learning from SETs in the context of higher education. In total, 407 higher education instructors (46.4% female; 38.60 years on average) with teaching commitments in Germany or Austria reported their achievement goals in an online survey. Out of these participants, 152 instructors voluntarily conducted SET(s) and subsequently reported their intentions to act on the feedback and improve future teaching in a short survey. Using structural equation modeling, we found, in line with our hypotheses, that learning avoidance, appearance approach, and appearance avoidance goals predicted whether instructors voluntarily conducted SET(s). As expected, learning approach and (avoidance) goals were positively associated with intentions to act on received SET-results and improve future teaching. These findings support our hypotheses, are in line with assumptions of self-regulated learning models, and highlight the importance of achievement goals for instructors’ voluntary usage of and intended learning from SET(s). To facilitate instructors’ learning from SET-results, our study constitutes a first step for future intervention studies to build on. Future researchers and practitioners might support instructors’ professional learning by encouraging them to reflect on their SET-results.

How university instructors’ achievement goals are related to subjective well-being: A cross-lagged panel analysis.

“…Definitions and sample items of the goals assessed in the present study based on this model can be found in Table 2, and the full list of items can be found in . The separability and relevance of these achievement goals have been confirmed across different ranks of instructors, higher education institution types, and countries, and studies have identified differential relationships between these goals with various professional factors (Daumiller et al, 2019; Daumiller, Janke, Hein, et al, 2021; Hein et al, 2021; Rinas et al, 2020). As such, we used this goal differentiation as the theoretical basis of the present study.…”

The state of academic careers in OECD countries

“…Large-scale studies have shown minimal correlation between student satisfaction ratings and learning outcomes (Uttl, White and Gonzalez, 2017 [168]). Student feedback has been documented to include biases towards individual teachers (Mitchell and Martin, 2018 [169]) and at times can even include abusive comments (Heffernan and Harpur, 2023 [170]). Collecting student feedback can play an important role but is better suited to be used as a formative assessment of academics, to improve their practice rather than make decisions about their career.…”

Motivated to learn? Investigating the link of achievement goals and informal workplace learning of lecturers in higher education

“…As a result, lecturers themselves (Diethert et al, 2015), students, and society benefit from faculty development. Due to the importance of lecturers' professional learning, research on motivation as a predictor of faculty development has assumed importance (Daumiller et al, 2020; Daumiller & Dresel, 2020; Diethert et al, 2015; Hein et al, 2021).…”