Why Students Recommend College Professors to Their Peers

Feedback from students about teaching A Key Tool for College Educatorsinforming both their teaching practice and their tenure process and professional assessments. Students privately and publicly recommend courses and instructors to their peers, which can provide insight into what elements of the course they liked or disliked.

Researchers from the Association of College and University Teachers wanted to understand what motivates student recommendations and what factors they use to evaluate the quality of teaching. Study, published this fallfound that students prioritize evidence-based teaching practices and relationship building with their professors.

Students say: Students generally responded positively to their professors, with 89 percent rating their professor a four or five on a five-point scale.

The researchers identified four main themes in students’ reviews of their professor: clarity of teaching, student support, perceived teacher quality, and active learning.

Students may not refer to active learning as a pedagogical technique, said Paloma Benavides, a research fellow at ACUE, in a Nov. 14 webinar. But students report engaging class experiences, real-world application of content, and interactive learning experiences.

Demographic breakdowns revealed trends in what factors were important to students. Latino students, for example, were more likely to prioritize student support such as caring, opportunities for extra credit, and academic resources and guidance compared to their peers.

Older students (25 years and older) were more likely to pay attention to the teaching style and professionalism of their teachers than their younger peers. Additionally, upper-level students were more likely to value clear course expectations, instructions, and perceptions of caring compared to their lower-level peers, who prioritized participation or perceived kindness of their instructor.

Students who completed online classes also highlighted clear expectations and feedback in addition to learning resources and guidance compared to in-person students.

Students who rated their professors more highly were more likely to say that student support and perceived teacher quality were important to them. Conversely, students who rated their professors below a four were more likely to hold negative perceptions when they encountered insufficient course structure and clarity, a lack of support or engagement, or an overall unsatisfactory learning experience.

A common myth surrounding student feedback is that students look for easy classes to get high grades, but the survey showed otherwise. Students with high grades are more likely to evaluate a course negatively if they feel they did not learn it.

Previous studies demonstrated student bias in how they rate their professors based on demographic factors, but this was largely absent from the survey data. Instructor race, ethnicity, or gender did not have a significant impact on student perceptions, but tenure status, discipline, and years of experience were influential factors influencing student feedback, particularly regarding clarity of instruction and student support.

Best practices: During a webinar hosted by ACUE on November 14, faculty identified strategies they use to improve instruction and relationships with students.

• Inspiring ownership. Often instructors are excited to teach a course because they enjoy the content, but not all students have the same passion. Helping students find purpose in their learning goals and giving them control over how they achieve mastery can encourage investment and make course material more relevant and interesting.
• Getting feedback in class. Teachers should listen to students during class and take the time to find out how they are doing and what will be helpful to them in their learning. “When we lecture, we do chalk and talk rather than spending time talking to students to find out what they need,” said Alicia Abney, associate professor and academic advisor at the University of Kentucky.
• Maintain students at a high level. “I think a lot of the time, especially when it comes to potentially new faculty, we think our students want things to be easy,” said Jillian Wilson, an assistant professor at Regis College in Massachusetts. “But what I discovered is actually the opposite. The more you challenge your students, the more you hold them to higher standards, the better they learn, and the higher grades they give you.”
• Ask students to identify strategies. Wilson creates an interim feedback form that asks students what she can do to improve their learning. This process helps Wilson be a more effective teacher and helps students feel heard and respected.

Do you have an academic intervention that could help others improve student achievement? Tell us about it.