Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, University Hospital of Münster, Münster, Germany.
Med Educ. 2018 Oct;52(10):1064-1072. doi: 10.1111/medu.13627. Epub 2018 Jun 29.
Results from end-of-course student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are taken seriously by faculties and form part of a decision base for the recruitment of academic staff, the distribution of funds and changes to curricula. However, there is some doubt as to whether these evaluation instruments accurately measure the quality of course content, teaching and knowledge transfer. We investigated whether the provision of chocolate cookies as a content-unrelated intervention influences SET results.
We performed a randomised controlled trial in the setting of a curricular emergency medicine course. Participants were 118 third-year medical students. Participants were randomly allocated into 20 groups, 10 of which had free access to 500 g of chocolate cookies during an emergency medicine course session (cookie group) and 10 of which did not (control group). All groups were taught by the same teachers. Educational content and course material were the same for both groups. After the course, all students were asked to complete a 38-question evaluation form.
A total of 112 students completed the evaluation form. The cookie group evaluated teachers significantly better than the control group (113.4 ± 4.9 versus 109.2 ± 7.3; p = 0.001, effect size 0.68). Course material was considered better (10.1 ± 2.3 versus 8.4 ± 2.8; p = 0.001, effect size 0.66) and summation scores evaluating the course overall were significantly higher (224.5 ± 12.5 versus 217.2 ± 16.1; p = 0.008, effect size 0.51) in the cookie group.
The provision of chocolate cookies had a significant effect on course evaluation. These findings question the validity of SETs and their use in making widespread decisions within a faculty.
课程结束时学生对教学的评价（SET）结果受到教师的重视，并构成招聘学术人员、分配资金和课程变更的决策基础的一部分。然而，人们对这些评估工具是否能准确衡量课程内容、教学和知识转移的质量存在一些怀疑。我们调查了提供巧克力饼干作为与内容无关的干预措施是否会影响 SET 结果。
我们在一门课程急诊医学课程中进行了一项随机对照试验。参与者是 118 名三年级医学生。参与者被随机分配到 20 个组中，其中 10 个组在急诊医学课程期间可以自由食用 500 克巧克力饼干（饼干组），10 个组没有（对照组）。所有组都由同一位老师授课。两组的教育内容和课程材料相同。课程结束后，所有学生都被要求完成一份 38 题的评价表。
共有 112 名学生完成了评价表。饼干组对教师的评价明显优于对照组（113.4±4.9 对 109.2±7.3；p=0.001，效应大小 0.68）。课程材料被认为更好（10.1±2.3 对 8.4±2.8；p=0.001，效应大小 0.66），总体课程评价的总和得分也明显更高（224.5±12.5 对 217.2±16.1；p=0.008，效应大小 0.51）。
提供巧克力饼干对课程评价有显著影响。这些发现质疑了 SET 的有效性及其在教师中广泛决策中的应用。
