WILLINGNESS TO INNOVATE

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the potential implications of commonly used student ratings of teacher performance on faculty members’ willingness to pursue innovative educational practices. Our fundamental contention is that student ratings of teaching are potentially detrimental to innovative education. In exploring this fundamental contention, we first examine the inherent evaluation and developmental challenges associated with student ratings. Next, we discuss the common uses, misuses, and abuses of student ratings from both an evaluative perspective and a developmental perspective. We then propose an alternative approach — one based on behaviorally anchored rating scales — for utilizing student ratings. This proposed approach can potentially limit the misuses and abuses of student ratings, and can promote their viability as useful and accepted tools for both evaluative and developmental purposes, especially for the latter. Finally, we conclude the paper with a statement of our beliefs regarding the dangers associated with adhering to a student-as-customer mode of teacher ratings — dangers which can discourage innovative educational efforts and pervert the educational process as well as undermine students’ acquisition of the competencies they will need to function effectively in modern society.