Center for Faculty Development
Using IDEA for Teaching Evaluation
What is the IDEA System for Student Rating of Instruction?
Any assessment of teaching is only as good as the feedback it provides. The IDEA System distinguishes itself by soliciting students' feedback on their own learning progress, effort, and motivation, as well as their perceptions of the instructor's use of 20 instructional teaching methods. In addition, the system surveys instructors regarding their overall goals and provides feedback on them in the analysis and report. Rather than emphasizing teaching style, the IDEA system focuses on student learning and the methods used to facilitate it.
Research has shown there is no single, correct way to teach. As a result, The IDEA Center tailors each report according to the instructor's selected learning objectives and offers recommendations for improvement based on its large national database. This comparative data provides a firm basis for identifying strengths and diagnosing areas in need of improvement, while factoring out variables beyond the instructor’s control, such as student work habits, student motivation, and class size
What forms are used for student ratings?
Faculty members complete a Faculty Information Form for each course being surveyed. This allows them to tailor results for each course by identifying which of the 12 learning objectives are relevant to their courses. For assistance in filling out this form, ask a classroom consultant for advice or visit the IDEA Center website for details on how to choose learning objectives most commonly associated with specific disciplines: http://www.theideacenter.org/category/helpful-resources/support-student-ratings-instruction/faculty-information-form . Useful documents you will find on this page of the IDEA website are: the Directions to Faculty, Some Thoughts on Selecting Learning Objectives, Sample Syllabi showing how learning objectives were integrated, and a video on completing the Faculty Information Form.
Student Report Forms
Diagnostic (long) form: Students rate the frequency of use of specific teaching methods as well as their perceived progress on the 12 learning objectives, as well as their motivation, effort, and work habits. This form is used when the instructor would like formative feedback about the teaching methods that would be useful to promote specific learning objectives.
Short form: Students rate only their perceived progress on learning objectives, along with their motivation, effort, and work habits. No information on teaching methods is assessed with this form.
What is in the Report on Student Ratings of Instruction?
Reports on teaching not only summarize teaching success, but also provide insights on how to improve. Reports are best understood by looking at an example and using the IDEA resources below to guide formative reflection.
How does the IDEA Center
For information about and suggestions for how to enhance student progress on any of the learning objectives chosen in your courses, refer to the POD-IDEA Notes on Learning.
For suggestions on how to improve teaching effectiveness by increasing the use of any of the 20 teaching methods, refer to the POD-IDEA Notes on Instruction.
A variety of other resources for improving teaching can be found on the IDEA website: http://www.theideacenter.org/taxonomy/term/108 . For example,
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the relationship between teaching methods and learning objectives is summarized in tabular form and separated by class size: http://www.theideacenter.org/sites/default/files/MethodsByObjective.pdf
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IDEA papers on teaching and faculty evaluation: http://www.theideacenter.org/IDEAPapers
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Paper #42: Integrated Course Design by Dee Fink is especially good at explaining the relationship of learning objectives, course assignments directed toward achievement of those objectives, and assessment of the assigned work to determine learning outcomes. http://www.theideacenter.org/sites/default/files/Idea_Paper_42.pdf
