Reconceptualizing student ratings of teaching to support quality discourse on student learning: a systems perspective

This paper summarizes the discourse on student ratings of teaching in higher education. It reconceptualizes student ratings within a larger process of promoting quality in teaching and student learning. As students engage in productive dialogue with teachers and administrators, metrics drawn from decontextualized surveys are admittedly a vital resource. Our paper contends, however, that student ratings can only become a tool for enhancement when they feed reflective conversations about improving the learning process and when these conversations are informed by the scholarship of teaching and learning. We illustrate this view with a case study of an Engineering Faculty that uses three interconnected initiatives to support an evolving conversation on quality among teachers in partnership with students. The role of student engagement in enhancement efforts is discussed as well as potential challenges to implementation. Our purpose is to spark wider discussion of a systems perspective on student ratings that supports a coherent discourse towards positive change.