Analysis of Course Evaluations

Question I want to answer

This report is intended to identify the underlying trend in my student course evaluations since my last promotion.

Data

Student evaluations used in the analysis covers the academic year of 2014-2018. Note that academic year differs from calendar year. Academic years (AY) in the analysis are defined as:

• AY 2014: fall 2013; winter 2014; spring 2014; and summer 2014
• AY 2015: fall 2014; winter 2015; spring 2015; and summer 2015
• AY 2016: fall 2015; winter 2016; spring 2016; and summer 2016
• AY 2017: fall 2016; winter 2017; spring 2017; and summer 2017
• AY 2018: fall 2017; winter 2018; spring 2018; and summer 2018

In addition, not all questions in the student course evaluations were used in the analysis. The student course evaluation survey at Plymouth State University has evolved over the years: a few questions were added and others were deleted, while numbering questions changed as well. Therefore, I chose to include only four questions that were asked in all student evaluations and that are considered more important. These four questions are:

• How would you rate the overall effectiveness of the instructor?
• How would you rate the overall value of the course?
• The instructor provided constructive feedback.
• The instructor provided timely feedback.

The student course evaluations were downloaded in PDF from the Plymouth State University banner system; converted to spreadsheet; and read into R (a computer programing language) for analysis.

Anatomy of my teaching

• Number of years: The analysis covers from AY 2014 to AY 2018 (from fall 2013 to spring 2018).
• Courses taught: I taught seven different courses during this time.
  • BU-2240: Business Statistics (taught six times during 2017-18)
  • BU-3100: Financial Modeling (taught five times during 2017-18)
  • BU-4090: Current Topics in Business (taught three times during 2017-18)
  • EC-2000: Survey of Modern Economics (taught once during 2016)
  • EC-2550: Macroeconomics (taught nine times during 2014-17)
  • EC-4460: Money and Banking (taught seven times during 2014-17)
  • IS-1111: First Year Seminar (taught three times during 2017-18)
• Teaching load: There are two distinctive sub-periods in terms of my teaching load: 1) the academic year of 2014-16 when I had a joint appointment between the College of Business Administration and the Center for Rural Partnerships, and 2) the academic year of 2017-18 when I came back to full-time teaching with the College of Business Administration. During the academic year of 2014-16, I was assigned to teach two three-credit courses per semester (fall and spring) while conducting applied research at the Center for Rural Partnerships. A full-time teaching load at Plymouth State University is four three-credit courses per semester. On a side note, I did not teach any course in fall calendar year 2014 while in sabbatical.
• Evolution of teaching areas: The clear divide in the data also reflects the evolution of my career. Although I started my academic career as an economist, I have recently taken the initiative to develop data analytics curriculum at Plymouth State University. In fact, the spring 2017 semester was the last time I taught any economics course. I have since taught data analytics in different business disciplines: Business Statistics, Financial Modeling, Sports Data Analytics, and Legal Risk Analytics. The latter two are new experimental courses that ran with the same course title BU4090: Current Topics in Business, while the former two are existing courses that I revamped with business analytics curriculum. All four courses are designed to teach data analytics, using R, applied in different business disciplines. R is one of the two most popular programming languages in data science today.

Note that tables below show breakouts by calendar year.

Upward trend in student evaluations

The yearly average ratings per course per question shows an overall upward trend, with an exception of BU-2240: Business Statistics. Although the average rating declined for BU-2240 between 2017 and 2018, it is highly unlikely an indication of a decline in teaching effectiveness for two reasons. First, the two questions that show a decline do so because they started with a perfect rating of 5 in 2017. It’s hard to improve if you start at top. Secondly, it is due to a small sample: the 2017 average ratings were recorded by only two students who took the course during the summer 2017 semester.

Note that there can be more than one section of the same course in a year, which are averaged to calculate the yearly average ratings per course per question.

The yearly average ratings per question show an upward trend in all four questions. For example, the rating for the timely feedback question rose gradually but steadily from below 4 in 2014 to above 4.5 in 2018.

Note that the yearly average ratings per question in the chart below are averaged across all courses and all sections per year.

The yearly average ratings per course shows an upward trend, except for two courses: BU-2240: Business Statistics and IS-1111: First Year Seminar. The issue with BU-2240 was addressed above. Regarding IS-1111, the deline in the student evaluations between AY 2017 and AY 2018 is likely a reflection of the course redesign made to the course at Plymouth State University in summer 2017. I taught two sections of IS-1111 in AY 2017 and one in AY 2018. In the summer of 2017 between AY 2017 and AY 2018, the University made a strategic move to set IS-1111 as a stepping-stone to help students prepared for a successful college experience in a cluster of their choice. I failed to make appropriate adjustments in time.

Note that the yearly average ratings per course in the chart below are averaged across all four questions and all sections per year.

The chart below sums up the progress I’ve made over the years between 2014 and 2018. It confirms that my teaching has improved steadily over time.

Note that the yearly average ratings in the chart below are averaged across all four questions, all courses, and all sections per year.