Abstract:

The effectiveness of good teaching and learning in higher education depends on many critical factors. Governments, institutions and individuals continue to adapt and deploy strategies for both sound pedagogical and practical use in higher education. Debate and dialogue around what constitutes good teaching and good learning has led most Universities to conduct evaluations of teaching, often from multiple perspectives. Course and subject evaluations, student evaluation of teaching (SET) and student feedback surveys, teaching and peer teaching evaluations and even informal feedback mechanisms are some of the many evaluation and measurement models undertaken by institutions. When various forms of evaluation are not coordinated and the results not triangulated together, we assume that each on their own may be taken out of context in understanding teacher effectiveness and consequently, success of student learning.
This paper suggests that there needs to be an alignment of the institutions goals with evaluation objectives (and student learning), otherwise observations and evaluations will continue to create misunderstandings and confusion as to their suitability and value. Reflecting on teaching and learning evaluation practices across three international universities; this paper proposes that universities adopt a broader teaching evaluation framework that harmonizes and manages student evaluations of learning, peer review of teaching, student feedback, and individual self assessment through a more coordinated and culturally sensitive approach.