Teaching Evaluations for Construction Engineering and Management: Opportunity to Move Us Forward
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 133, Issue 2
Abstract
Engineering education is challenged to usher in new approaches to preparing its students for their professional careers. Many blue-ribbon committees call for systematic modifications in research universities to clear the path for cross-disciplinary learning communities. In this context, the paper investigates the effect of student ratings as a measure of teaching effectiveness. One survey found that engineering sophomores perceive active student-centered teaching methods as greatly ineffective, while a second survey highlighted that lecture-based teaching underpins student rating forms used at U.S. research universities. With the goal of aligning teaching objectives, learning outcomes, and the criteria for evaluating teaching, a student rating form is presented. The scales of the multidimensional construct are based on the most up-to-date understanding of effective pedagogy, the new American Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology criteria, and a view of the future of our profession. The importance of this paper lies in its science-based proposal underlying a call for the establishment of a coalition to validate a constructive approach to further teaching performance in the field of construction engineering and management.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writer would like to thank the many colleagues from ASCE’s Construction Research Councils who took the time to collect and send me the SRTs from their schools and other related information.
References
Bernold, L. E. (2005). “Paradigm shift in education is vital for the future of our profession.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 131(5), 533–539.
Bernold, L. E., Bingham, W. L., McDonald, P. H., and Attia, T. M. (2000). “Influence of learning type oriented teaching on academic success of engineering students.” J. Eng. Educ., 89(2), 191–199.
Bjorklund, S. A., and Colbeck, C. L. (2001). “The view from the top: Leaders’ perspectives on a decade of change in engineering education.” J. Eng. Educ., 90(1), 13–49.
Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research Univ. (1998). “Reinventing undergraduate education: A blueprint for America’s research universities.” State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Stony Brook, N.Y., ⟨http://notes.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf⟩ (Jan. 14, 2006).
Cashin, W. (1995). “Student ratings of teaching: The research revisited.” IDEA Paper No. 32, Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, Kan., ⟨http://www.idea.ksu.edu/papers/Idea_Paper_32.pdf⟩ (Jan. 14, 2006).
Ditcher, A. K. (2001). “Effective teaching and learning in higher education, with particular reference to the undergraduate education of professional engineers.” Int. J. Eng. Ed., 17(1), 24–29.
Entwistle, N., and Tait, H. (1990). “Approaches to learning, evaluations of teaching, and preferences for contrasting academic environments.” J. Higher Educ., 19, 169–194.
Hu, S., and Kuh, G. D. (2003). “Maximizing what students get out of college: Testing a learning productivity model.” J. College Student Development, 44(2), 185–203.
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., and Smith, K. A. (1991). Active learning: Cooperation in the college classroom, Interaction Book, Edina, Minn.
Kember, D., and Gow, L. (1994). “Orientations to teaching and their effect on the quality of student learning.” J. Higher Educ., 65, 58–74.
Kolitch, E., and Dean, A. V. (1999). “Student ratings of instruction in the USA: Hidden assumptions and missing conceptions about ‘good’ teaching.” Studies in Higher Ed., 24(1), 27–43.
Marsh, H. W. (1987). “Students’ evaluation of university teaching: Research findings, methodological issues, and directions for future research.” Int. J. for Educational Research, 11, 253–388.
McKeachie, W. (1997). “Student ratings: The validity of use.” Am. Psychol., 52, 1218–1225.
National Academy of Engineering (NAE). (2005). “Adapting engineering education to the new century educating the engineer of 2020.” National Academies, Washington, D.C.
National Science Foundation (NSF). (1995). “Restructuring engineering education: A focus on change.” Rep. of 1994 NSF Workshop on Engineering Education, Division of Undergraduate Education, Washington, D.C., ⟨http://128.150.4.107/pubs/stis1995/nsf9565/nsf9565.txt⟩ (Jan. 14, 2006).
Pace, C. R. (1990). “The undergraduates: A report of their activities and progress in college in the 1980s (3rd Ed.).” Report Center for the Study of Evaluation, Univ. of California, Los Angeles.
Palmer, D. (2005). “A motivational view of constructivist informed teaching.” Int. J. Sci. Educ., 27(15), 1853–1881.
Pascarella, E. (1985). “College environmental influences on learning and cognitive development: A critical review and synthesis.” Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, J. Smart, ed., Vol. 1, Agathon, New York, 1–61.
Pascarella, E., and Terenzini, P. (1991). How college affects students: Findings and insights from twenty years of research, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Penny, A. R. (2003). “Changing the agenda for research into students’ views about university teaching: Four shortcomings of SRT research.” Teaching in Higher Ed., 8(3), 399–411.
Prados, J. W. (1997). “The editor’s page: Engineering criteria 2000—A change agent for engineering education.” J. Eng. Educ., 86(4), 69–70.
Prados, J. W., Peterson, G. D., and Lattuca, L. R. (2005). “Quality assurance of engineering education through accreditation: The impact of engineering criteria 2000 and its global influence.” J. Eng. Educ., 94(1), 165–184.
Seldin, P. (1993). “How colleges evaluate professors: 1983 vs. 1993.” AAHE Bulletin, October, 6–12.
Shuman, L. J., Besterfield-Sacre, M., and McGoutry, J. (2005). “The ABET ‘professional skills’—Can they be taught? Can they be assessed?” J. Eng. Educ., 94(1), 41–55.
Splitt, F. G. (2003). “The challenge to change: On realizing the new paradigm for engineering education.” J. Eng. Educ., 93(20), 181–187.
U.S. Department of Education (LED). (2001). “The context of postsecondary education.” The condition of education, NCES 2001072, 74–84, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, D.C.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 2, 2006
Accepted: Jul 26, 2006
Published online: Feb 1, 2007
Published in print: Feb 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.