The Impact of an Objective Structured Teaching Evaluation on Faculty Teaching Skills

Background: Objective structured teaching evaluations (OSTEs) have been utilized to evaluate educational curricula and for resident and faculty development. Purpose: This study examines the impact of an OSTE on faculty teaching effectiveness and faculty satisfaction. Methods: From 2004 to 2007, 46 faculty members participated in the OSTE. Faculty assessed their teaching abilities with a retrospective pre-post-test analysis. Faculty teaching evaluations for the 6 months before and after the OSTE were compared. Faculty participants completed satisfaction questionnaires regarding their OSTE experience and made teaching plans for the future. Results: After the OSTE, faculty reported statistically significant improvements in all self-assessed teaching skills. There was, however, no improvement in their teaching evaluations. Faculty satisfaction with the OSTE experience was high. They indicated teaching plans incorporating lessons from the OSTE. Conclusions: Faculty felt the OSTE was a rewarding experience and reported improvement in their teaching abilities; however, faculty teaching evaluations did not improve.