Student mood and teaching evaluations

This study hypothesized that student moods would relate to end-of-semester evaluations of instructors and their courses. Undergraduate students (N = 136) completed measures of mood trait, mood state, and their course evaluations at the end of the class and two weeks prior to the last class. Student positive mood stares measured at the time of the evaluations and two weeks prior were found to account for modest variance in the instructor and course ratings. Mood trait was not a factor in reaching ratings. Expected grade and perceived learning were correlated with evaluations but nor with mood state or with mood trait. Implications for future research are discussed.