This volume examines the development and growing use of online
student ratings and the potential impact online rating systems will
have on the future of students? evaluations of
teaching. The contributors demonstrate how the preference for
online evaluation is growing, even amidst challenges and doubt.
Sharing their first-hand experience as researchers and
administrators of online systems, they explore major concerns
regarding online student ratings and suggest possible solutions.
D. Lynn Sorenson and Christian M. Reiner review existing
online-rating systems that have been developed independently across
the globe. Kevin Hoffman presents the results of a national survey
that tracks the increased use of the Internet for student ratings
of instruction. At Northwestern University, Nedra Hardy
demonstrates how ongoing research about online student evaluations
is helping to dispel common misperceptions.
Application of online rating systems can present institutions
with new challenges and obligations. Trav D. Johnson details a case
study based on five years of research in the response rates for one
university?s online evaluation system and suggests strategies
to increase student participation. Reviewing online reporting
of results of online student ratings, Donna C. Llewellyn explores
the emerging issues of security, logistics, and
confidentiality.
Other chapters explore existing online systems, highlighting
their potential benefits for institution and instructor alike.
Beatrice Tucker, Sue Jones, Lean Straker, and Joan Cole analyze
Course Evaluation on the Web (CEW), a comprehensive online system
for instructional feedback and improvement. Cheryl Davis Bullock
reviews the Evaluation Online (EON) system and its successful role
in facilitating midcourse student feedback.
The fate of online rating may rest in the unique advantages it
may ? or may not ? have over traditional ratings
systems. Debbie E. McGhee and Nana Lowell compare online and
paper-based methods through mean ratings, inter-rater reliabilities
and factor structure of items. Comparing systems from another
angle, Timothy W. Bothell and Tom Henderson examine the fiscal
costs and benefits of implementing an online evaluation system over
paper-based systems.
Finally, Christina Ballantyne considers the prominent issues and
thought-provoking ideas for the future of online student ratings
raised in this volume. Together, the contributors bring insight and
understanding to the processes involved in researching and
initiating innovations in online-rating systems.
This is the 96th issues of the quarterly journal New
Directions for Teaching and Learning.
Author Biography
D. LYNN SORENSON is assistant director of the Brigham Young University Faculty Center in Provo, Utah.
CHRISTIAN REINER is assessment and evaluation specialist at the Purdue University Center for Instructional Excellence in West Lafayette, Indiana.
