Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
Department of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC 20002.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2016 winter;15(4). doi: 10.1187/cbe.15-12-0249.
Typically, faculty receive feedback about teaching via two mechanisms: end-of-semester student evaluations and peer observation. However, instructors require more sustained encouragement and constructive feedback when implementing evidence-based teaching practices. Our study goal was to characterize the landscape of current instructional-feedback practices in biology and uncover faculty perceptions about these practices. Findings from a national survey of 400 college biology faculty reveal an overwhelming dissatisfaction with student evaluations, regardless of self-reported teaching practices, institution type, or position. Faculty view peer evaluations as most valuable, but less than half of faculty at doctoral-granting institutions report participating in peer evaluation. When peer evaluations are performed, they are more supportive of evidence-based teaching than student evaluations. Our findings reveal a large, unmet desire for greater guidance and assessment data to inform pedagogical decision making. Informed by these findings, we discuss alternate faculty-vetted feedback strategies for providing formative instructional feedback.
通常，教师通过两种机制获得教学反馈：学期末的学生评估和同行观察。然而，当实施基于证据的教学实践时，教师需要更持续的鼓励和建设性的反馈。我们的研究目标是描述生物学中当前教学反馈实践的情况，并揭示教师对这些实践的看法。对全国 400 名大学生物学教师的调查结果显示，无论自我报告的教学实践、机构类型或职位如何，教师对学生评估都非常不满意。教师认为同行评估最有价值，但在授予博士学位的机构中，只有不到一半的教师报告参与了同行评估。当进行同行评估时，它们比学生评估更支持基于证据的教学。我们的研究结果表明，教师非常希望获得更多的指导和评估数据，以告知教学决策。根据这些发现，我们讨论了替代的教师审查反馈策略，以提供形成性教学反馈。
