Student evaluations of teaching: emerging surveillance and resistance

Abstract

Despite previous research claiming surveillance emerges from student evaluations of teaching (SET), there is an absence of research using surveillance theory to determine whether it emerges, the nature of the surveillance should it emerge, and how academics resist its effects.Through an analysis of four university business schools, a top-down vertical surveillance imbued with disciplinary procedures is identified, involving a few managers scrutinising many academics through the observations of many students. A bottom-up vertical surveillance is also identified, involving many academics scrutinising a few managers through the observations of many students. The similarities and differences between mystery shopping and the surveillance emerging from SET are also explored to highlight the crucial role students play in the surveillance. A further contribution is made through an analysis of how academics engage in resistance activities designed to disrupt the flow of performance information between observer and observed.

Student Perceptions of Formative Assessment and Cooperative Work on a Technical Engineering Course

“…This learning experience is related to the benefits of the class as a whole and that the other groups can provide through co-evaluations and formative debates, exchanging different viewpoints, and explaining concepts that are not properly understood within the group in simple ways, fostering optimal learning of very specific course content. Students must be able to give their opinions and make mistakes when following this process, and therefore these processes should not be reflected in the assessment of the subject, but should be understood as a process of formative evaluation, the only objective of which is that each student is supported and assisted within a peer group, favoring joint learning [44,45]. Examinations will in any case be able to continue to be the main source of assessment and it may be assumed that the validity of FACW experiences could be analyzed through the results [46].…”

Does professors' gender impact how students evaluate their teaching and the recommendations for the best professor?

“…Therefore, it is difficult to compare the results of this study with others, as the nature of the assessments is different. We postulate the following two hypotheses to this result: One has to do with the behavior of the professors in classes, as generally, students expect their professors to behave according to their stereotypes ( Anderson and Smith, 2005 ; Kombe et al, 2019 ) and if these expectations are not met, the students may hold the professors accountable in the final evaluations ( Dalmia et al, 2005 ; Kayas et al, 2020 ; Sprague & Massoni, 2005 ). Also, the likability of the professors can have a strong effect on the SET outcomes ( Feistauer and Richter, 2018 ) The second possible explanation is that students may have an ingrained cultural mindset that, despite the equal competencies of men and women, they tend to see a male professor as slightly more recommendable than the female counterpart.…”