How multi-dimensional evaluation of teaching can help improve the student experience

Marcia Devlin, The University of Melbourne, Victoria

The single-item teaching quality measures commonly used in Australian higher education offer little opportunity for teaching improvement, nor for enhancing the student learning experience. Typically, in student evaluation of teaching, students' strength of agreement with a statement such as 'This subject was well taught' are sought using a 5-point Likert scale and the responses of a cohort averaged and fed back to lecturers. If the average is high, lecturers often do not know exactly what it is they are doing that leads to this positive view. Similarly, if the average is low, most lecturers have no information about how, specifically, to improve their teaching. This paper reports on a small study in an Australian university using a multi-dimensional measure of teaching effectiveness that provides specific, detailed information about several aspects of teaching to lecturers. This information includes student evaluation and self-evaluation of teaching using a multi-dimensional instrument. The ways in which this information was subsequently used to successfully target areas of teaching for improvement is outlined. The impacts of an intervention guided by this feedback information are examined with the use of a control group who receive equivalent feedback but no development program. The implications for practice in evaluating teaching and in academic development are discussed.