TEACHING EVALUATION AT A PUBLIC INSTITUTION OF HIGHER-EDUCATION - FACTORS RELATED TO THE OVERALL TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS

About 3,200 undergraduate and 300 graduate students in the College of Business of a regional state university with more than 17,000 students located in the southeastern United States evaluated 126 business facu lty. The results of a multiple regression based on 6,395 student evalu ations show that 12 factors are predictors of overall teaching;effecti veness, e.g., instructor presents material clearly, instructor answers students' questions, instructor treats students in a courteous and/or professional manner, and instructor appears to be well prepared for e ach class. These data suggest that students are fairly reasonable in c onsidering important aspects of the learning process when they evaluat e professors' overall teaching effectiveness. The results are discusse d in light of the reward system at U.S. universities, the balance betw een teaching and research, and the changes in management education.