Student Assessment of Teaching Effectiveness in a Multi-Instructor Course for Multidisciplinary Health Professional Students

Abstract

Student evaluations of teaching effectiveness in a large multi-instructor human anatomy course for students from four professionalprograms (nursing, dental hygiene, pharmacy, and physical education) were examined over a three-year period to assess the influence of professional program on student ratings of instruction. In spite of wide differences in mean achievement, students in the four professional groups were relatively consistent in their differential evaluations of the three course instructors and in their evaluations of learner motivational and course performance dimensions of instruction. Results supportedpreviousfindings regarding both (a) the internal consistency and interrater reliability of student evaluations of instruction in a course format increasingly being used in health professional education and (b) the needfor multiple assessments of instruction over time before generalizations can be made about an individual instructor's teaching skill.

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