A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

Evaluating courses and teaching
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209
OVERVIEW
This chapter has looked at the principal factors to be considered in evaluating teaching.
The sequence followed was not fortuitous, as Figure 14.2 suggests. The processes
involved, when viewed collectively, may be seen as a series of interlocking steps which
together comprise an integrative cycle of evaluation. Overlooking any one of these steps
is likely to be dysfunctional. Neglecting to clarify focus and purposes, for example, may
result in feedback which is unhelpful or of marginal relevance. Similarly, failing to
respond to issues which have arisen by not implementing agreed changes risks alienating
those who have taken the trouble to provide feedback.
It would be misleading, none the less, to see this cycle of evaluation as a counsel of
perfection. No university teacher can realistically subject every aspect of his or her dayto-day
practice to constant review or modification. Nor can workable evaluation strategies
be devised in isolation from careful consideration of the resources of time, effort and
expertise which would be called for. Indeed, effective evaluation is not simply a matter
of technique. It also calls for the exercise of personal and professional judgement.
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