Hi The paper can be read at
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/653808 Although Chris has focused on the course evaluation part, the bulk of the paper concerns learning in current and future related courses. Some faculty promote learning better in current courses and some in future courses, and the two are negatively related (I think ... complex analyses by economists!). Final section on course evaluations concerns fact that evaluations correlate positively with current value added and negatively with later value added. Experience and rank tends to correlate in the opposite direction, that is, negative with current and positive with later. A couple of caveats ... these are math courses and the students score high on math SATs, so we are talking about good students here. Also probably highly motivated given they are in Air Force Academy. I could not find the range of course evaluation scores, but my guess would be that they too would be quite high. Finally, the "value added" measures for current and future courses presumably (I did not take the time to work through their logic / analysis) are some sort of residual scores. And residual scores can demonstrate "unusual" relationships with one another and with predictors (e.g., being negatively related under certain circumstances). All in all though, an interesting study especially as students are randomly assigned to sections of courses. The authors suggest some possible mechanisms for the negative association between current and future learning (assuming it is real and not a statistical artifact). Here's penultimate paragraph: "One potential explanation for our results is that the less experienced professors may adhere more strictly to the regimented curriculum being tested, whereas the more experienced professors broaden the curriculum and produce students with a deeper understanding of the material. This deeper understanding results in better achievement in the follow on courses. Another potential mechanism is that students may learn (good or bad) study habits depending on the manner in which their introductory course is taught. For example, introductory professors who *teach to the test* may induce students to exert less study effort in follow on related courses. This may occur because of a false signal of one*s own ability or an erroneous expectation of how follow-on courses will be taught by other professors. A final, more cynical, explanation could also relate to student effort. Students of low-value-added professors in the introductory course may increase effort in follow-on courses to help *erase* their lower than expected grade in the introductory course." Study is also clearly relevant to this list and raises the interesting point that we can do certain things to promote immediate learning and certain things to promote long-term learning, but the two "things" might not be the same! Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax [email protected] Department of Psychology University of Winnipeg Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 CANADA >>> "Christopher D. Green" <[email protected]> 15-Jun-10 8:02 AM >>> Getting good evaluations from your students? Perhaps you're not teaching them enough. According to a recent study conducted at the US Air Force Academy: "professors who rate highly among students tend to teach students less. Professors who teach students more tend to get bad ratings from their students." Here's a Washington Post report: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2010/06/study_high-rated_professors_ar.html Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=3101 or send a blank email to leave-3101-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=3105 or send a blank email to leave-3105-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
