The effects of the elective or required status of courses on student evaluations

Abstract

This study examined the impact on a course evaluation of the course being either an elective or a required part of a training programme. Three elective and three required courses were evaluated using both a scaled and an open ended response form. Many variables were taken into account when examining the effect of course status, which other researchers have tended to neglect. These included the type of training method employed, the presenter and the type of student. It was found using a scaled response form that the elective courses received more favourable responses than the required courses on all three measures used, while on the open ended response forms, this occurred for two of the measures. It is suggested that, when comparing course evaluations, care should be taken to ensure that the status of the course as elective or required is taken into account. IntroductionThe literature into course evaluations using students is typified by that of Maynard et al (2002), who looked at how well psychology students remembered course material. From this they deduced that some presentations were better than others. Bradley et al (2005), emphasised the need to base evaluations on educational processes including course aims, objectives and outcomes. The study of factors which influence student perceptions of a course is an important area of research because of the trend towards the use of student evaluations in schools by OFSTED inspectors, and in colleges and universities as part of their external grading process. In many institutions such evaluations are mandated for all courses and are a subject for discussions with staff during performance appraisals. There is a growing tendency to include the evaluation of support units such as the media services and computing services departments on the basis of student ratings. In the United States many lecturers are actually paid on the basis of their student ratings. These evaluations are further used for comparisons between institutions and often form part of the calculations used for ranking them. The significance of those ratings will be very much less if the greater part of any difference is a result of the type of course content or other variables rather than the actual delivery.

The Tail Wagging the Dog; An Overdue Examination of Student Teaching Evaluations

“…To that end, several large studies consistently find teachers of elective courses receive more favorable evaluations than their colleagues teaching required classes (Drago & Wagner, 2004;Whitten & Umble;Pohlmann, 1975;Lovell & Haner, 1955). Researchers have suggested a number of possible reasons for these findings, including student attitudes towards the topic, the quantitative nature of some of the required courses, student perception of quality, the professor's teaching style (Bosshardt, 2001;Marsh & Roche, 1997) and the students interest and engagement (Darby, 2006a); all of which affect STEs. Related research finds STEs to be influenced by a student's year in school; asserting a positive correlation between the two (Ory, 2001).…”

A Decision Support System for Course Offering in Online Higher Education Institutes

“…Previous studies reported that students rate elective courses more favorably than required ones, presumably because students are participating in a course that they have an interest or focus in 6,14 . Hence, course type is another uncontrollable variable that needs to be considered for modeling the student course selection process.…”

Bilim Uygulamaları Dersi Öğretim Programının Öğretmenlerin Görüşlerine Göre Değerlendirilmesi

“…Farklı ilgi, ihtiyaç ve yeteneklere sahip öğrencilere programlarda farklı ders seçenekleri sunulmaktadır (EARGED, 2008). Sunulan bu dersler arasında öğrencilerin ilgileri ve beklentileri ile önemli derecede örtüşen seçmeli dersler özü itibari ile öğrenciler tarafından özellikle kişisel gelişim alanında ilgi çekici bulunmaktadır (Darby, 2006). Bilim Uygulamaları dersi Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı tarafından 2012-2013 eğitim öğretim yılından itibaren 5. sınıflardan 8. sınıflara kadar kademeli bir şekilde seçmeli ders olarak konulmuştur.…”

“…Yapılan çalışmalarda eğitimin her kademesinde öğrencilerin, seçmeli derslerin seçiminde de bazı zorluklarla karşılaştıkları belirtilmektedir. EARGED (2008) tarafından yapılan "Seçmeli Derslerin Seçim Kriterlerinin Değerlendirilmesi Araştırması" adlı çalışmaya göre, ilköğretim okullarında seçmeli derslerin belirlenmesinde okulun imkânlarının etkili faktör olduğu ve seçmeli dersler hakkında öğrencilere ve velilere yönelik bilgilendirmenin yetersiz olduğu sonuçlarına ulaşılmıştır (Bozdoğan, Bozdoğan ve Şengül, 2014 (Babad, 2001;Kardan, Sadeghi, Ghidary, & Sani, 2013;Schnabel, Alfeld, Eccles, Köller, & Baumert, 2002;Pass, Mehta, & Mehta, 2012;Wilson, Strocking, & Goldstein, 1993) ve seçmeli derslere yönelik çalışmaların (Darby, 2006;Eyidoğan, Odabaşı ve Kılıçer, 2011;Karagözoğlu, 2015;Öztürk ve Yılmaz, 2011;Taş, 2004;Tezcan ve Gümüş, 2008;Ülgen, 1992) olduğu görülmektedir. Ancak seçmeli derslere yönelik olarak uygulamaya konan Bilim Uygulamaları dersi ile ilgili çalışmaların sınırlı olduğu görülmektedir (Bozdoğan, Bozdoğan ve Şengül, 2014;Çavuş ve Kaplan, 2013;Eke, 2013).…”