The Street Lamp Paradox: Analysing Students’ Evaluation of Teaching through Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

This paper presents a study about Students Evaluation of Teaching (SET). Student surveys delivered at the end of the academic course is an approach currently applied in all Italian university courses. However, the quality of teaching is a multi-layered phenomenon whose evaluation might require addit...

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Main Authors: Patrizia Maria Margherita Ghislandi, Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli, Albert Sangrà, Giuseppe Ritella
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: LED Edizioni Universitarie 2020-06-01
Series:Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/ECPS-Journal/article/view/1934
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author Patrizia Maria Margherita Ghislandi
Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli
Albert Sangrà
Giuseppe Ritella
author_facet Patrizia Maria Margherita Ghislandi
Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli
Albert Sangrà
Giuseppe Ritella
author_sort Patrizia Maria Margherita Ghislandi
collection DOAJ
description This paper presents a study about Students Evaluation of Teaching (SET). Student surveys delivered at the end of the academic course is an approach currently applied in all Italian university courses. However, the quality of teaching is a multi-layered phenomenon whose evaluation might require additional methods. In this study, concerning a course offered during the academic year 2016/2017, we propose the qualitative analysis of students’ final essays, which includes the students’ opinion about teaching quality. The qualitative evaluation of teaching is then compared with the results of the standard SET survey. 48 students filled in the survey, while 47 delivered their final essay (a corpus of about 650 text pages). Our study shows that while the standard survey provides an overall picture useful at institutional level for Quality Assurance (QA), the qualitative approach captures an accurate account of students’ reactions, sensitive to the pedagogical approach adopted. This provides additional information on the students’ perspectives regarding the specific features of the course. Our case study suggests that the integration of traditional SET survey with qualitative teaching evaluation approaches, at least for innovative courses based on socio-constructivist learning, might provide information, overlooked in the Italian SET survey, that is useful for Quality Enhancement (QE) of teaching.
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spelling doaj.art-c85fcdd1387d43c49d0f6a42bdaa52eb2022-12-21T19:14:35ZengLED Edizioni UniversitarieJournal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies2037-79322037-79242020-06-01021658510.7358/ecps-2020-021-ghis1268The Street Lamp Paradox: Analysing Students’ Evaluation of Teaching through Qualitative and Quantitative ApproachesPatrizia Maria Margherita Ghislandi0Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli1Albert Sangrà2Giuseppe Ritella3University of TrentoUOC- Universitat Oberta de CatalunyaUniversitat Oberta de CatalunyaUniversity of Helsinki, Department of EducationThis paper presents a study about Students Evaluation of Teaching (SET). Student surveys delivered at the end of the academic course is an approach currently applied in all Italian university courses. However, the quality of teaching is a multi-layered phenomenon whose evaluation might require additional methods. In this study, concerning a course offered during the academic year 2016/2017, we propose the qualitative analysis of students’ final essays, which includes the students’ opinion about teaching quality. The qualitative evaluation of teaching is then compared with the results of the standard SET survey. 48 students filled in the survey, while 47 delivered their final essay (a corpus of about 650 text pages). Our study shows that while the standard survey provides an overall picture useful at institutional level for Quality Assurance (QA), the qualitative approach captures an accurate account of students’ reactions, sensitive to the pedagogical approach adopted. This provides additional information on the students’ perspectives regarding the specific features of the course. Our case study suggests that the integration of traditional SET survey with qualitative teaching evaluation approaches, at least for innovative courses based on socio-constructivist learning, might provide information, overlooked in the Italian SET survey, that is useful for Quality Enhancement (QE) of teaching.https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/ECPS-Journal/article/view/1934qualitative evaluation of teachingquality assurancequality enhancementsocio-constructivist learningstudent evaluation of teaching.
spellingShingle Patrizia Maria Margherita Ghislandi
Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli
Albert Sangrà
Giuseppe Ritella
The Street Lamp Paradox: Analysing Students’ Evaluation of Teaching through Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies
qualitative evaluation of teaching
quality assurance
quality enhancement
socio-constructivist learning
student evaluation of teaching.
title The Street Lamp Paradox: Analysing Students’ Evaluation of Teaching through Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
title_full The Street Lamp Paradox: Analysing Students’ Evaluation of Teaching through Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
title_fullStr The Street Lamp Paradox: Analysing Students’ Evaluation of Teaching through Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
title_full_unstemmed The Street Lamp Paradox: Analysing Students’ Evaluation of Teaching through Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
title_short The Street Lamp Paradox: Analysing Students’ Evaluation of Teaching through Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
title_sort street lamp paradox analysing students evaluation of teaching through qualitative and quantitative approaches
topic qualitative evaluation of teaching
quality assurance
quality enhancement
socio-constructivist learning
student evaluation of teaching.
url https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/ECPS-Journal/article/view/1934
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