Teaching evaluation at Flinders

About evaluation in higher education

Evaluation in higher education entails gathering evidence about the impact of teaching, topic and course design on students' participation and achievement, and the appropriateness of content and processes for intended purposes.

Effective evaluation of teaching and topics is the basis of good educational practice. Evaluation of teaching and topics must be done with a purpose. For evaluations to be effective and useful, you need to clarify what is it that you want to know or demonstrate about your teaching.

Teaching evaluation at Flinders – policy information

The Flinders University Education Policy outlines principles for effective teaching and learning in undergraduate, honours and postgraduate courses. These principles about teaching (and the design and management of a program of study) form the guiding framework for student evaluation, self-evaluation and peer evaluation of teaching tools.

The principle on evaluation of teaching and learning provides a framework for the evaluation of academic teaching staff by students and peers. This policy should guide all evaluations.

Mandatory evaluation tool for teaching

Flinders University has a standard, mandatory instrument for gathering data from students about their response to teaching, supervision and topics. This instrument is known as Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET).

Optional evaluation tools

For information about optional evaluation tools, refer to:

• Peer review
• Self evaluation.

Evaluation of course or topic

A national mechanism, Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), is used by the university to survey graduates who have just completed their course.

Performance review

Teaching evaluation is also supported by the University's performance review framework.