Teaching Evaluation Practices in Engineering Programs: Current Approaches and Usefulness

The evaluation of teaching is a critical aspect in higher education. There is substantial knowledge based on best teaching evaluation practices that can be used, yet there is a lack of research regarding teaching evaluation practices that are used specifically in engineering programs. This research characterized teaching evaluation practices within engineering programs across the country, to understand and assess the current state of practice. Three research questions were explored: (1) What teaching evaluation practices are used in engineering programs? (2) Which practices are used for formative and/or summative purposes? (3) What practices do engineering faculty report as useful? An exploratory sequential mixed-method design, utilizing interview and survey methods was used. In the qualitative phase, data were collected using semi-structured interviews followed by the quantitative phase, which included the development of a survey to more fully understand the evaluation practices of the interviewed participants. Thirty-four educators, including course instructors, department heads, and program coordinators in engineering programs participated. The result of this study showed that end-of-course student evaluation of teaching (SET) is the most common approach. In addition to SET, other approaches to teaching evaluation include classroom observation by peers or non-peers, evaluation of classroom materials, and student mid-course evaluations. It was also identified that the formative practices used mainly to gather student feedback or to improve faculty teaching are useful to the participants. Although there is substantial interest in improving teaching evaluation practices, generally current practices are still much different from identified best practices such as evaluating active learning approaches in the classroom, constructive alignment of outcomes, activities and assessments as well as the frequency and quality of feedback to students. The teaching evaluation system in engineering programs can be improved when educators become aware of and choose to adopt approaches that have been demonstrated to improve teaching and student learning.