Kenneth O. Doyle

Student Ratings as Criteria for Effective Teaching

Considerable concern has been generated in many quarters about the use of student ratings as criteria for effective teaching. In the present study, a rating instrument was administered to students in a multi-section beginning language course. “Across-” and “between-sections” data were studied for generalizability and validity. The results indicated that student ratings overlap with one of the principal criteria of teaching effectiveness, namely, class-room achievement, yet possess a unique component. Ramifications of the “across” and “between” distinction were explored.

Implicit Theories in Student Ratings

Identifying generalizable dimensions of teaching from student ratings data has been both practically and theoretically important in the study of teaching. However, an examination of the methods employed reveals that many studies may have identified dimensions which were implicit in the student raters rather than the instructors. The current study compared various methods of identifying teaching factors and found substantive similarity of the dimensions defined from students’ implicit theories and various types of correlational data. The results are interpreted both with respect to the rating process and to the nature of the factors identified in previous student ratings research.

Lifestyles of Online Gamers

ABSTRACT This study compares people who play games on the Internet, people who use the Internet but not for gaming, and people who do not use the Internet. In terms of demography, there is no gender difference among the three groups. On-line gamers are the youngest group and have above-average education and income, but non-gaming Internet users enjoy the highest socioeconomic status. In terms of motivation, on-line gamers are more impulsive and more open to the Internet than either other group. On-line gamers are also highest in novelty seeking, risk-taking, and word-of-mouth communication. In terms of attitude, both online gamers and non-gaming Internet users are more liberal toward socially sensitive issues than non-Internet users, and more tolerant of advertising that contains sex or violence. Practical implications and the need for additional research are discussed.

The good, the bad, or the ugly? A multilevel perspective on electronic game effects

When pundits—and some researchers—proclaim electronic games either altogether good or altogether bad for society, they often miss theoretical subtleties that if considered would allow us to see both the boon and the burden of the emerging technology and point to important future possibilities. Most important, these critics often fail to recognize that variability exists at different levels of analysis and in the interactions: between players, between games, between contexts, and so forth. The simultaneous existence of both positive and negative consequences of electronic games can be elaborated and reconciled in part through a multilevel perspective on electronic game effects whereby important variables exist at the levels of the individual, game content, and societal time or space. This article illustrates this idea by reviewing some recent findings in this arena and pointing to common threads that relate to the likely multilevel structure of human interaction with electronic games.

Validity and generalizability of student ratings from between-classes and within-class data

This article examines the generalizability and validity of student ratings by studying within-class and between-classes correlations of ratings with other variables for regular faculty teaching lecture courses as well as for graduate assistants teaching recitation sections. Results indicate that most ratings are highly generalizable but only some are related to learning and that certain aspects of both generalizability and validity vary with the instructors role and with the level of data. The implications of these findings for the evaluation of teaching are discussed with reference to two alternative paradigms: construct validity and criterion development. Many prior studies have examined aspects of the validity and generalizability of student ratings of instruction. For example, the validity of student ratings as indices of student learning has been addressed by Remmers, Martin, and Elliott (1949), Elliott (1950), Rodin and Rodin (1972), Frey (1973), Sullivan and Skanes (1974), Doyle and Whitely (1974), and Centra (Note 1). Findings have ranged from high negative to high positive correlations, with the majority indicating a statistically significant but very modest relationship between student ratings and tested student learning. Generalizability has been even more frequently studied. DeWolf (Note 2) lists 76 student characteristics that have been examined as possible correlates of student ratings, and Doyle (1975) cites more than 50 generalizabil ity studies. Again the findings are inconsistent, showing sometimes positive, sometimes negative, and sometimes zero correlations between student ratings and various student characteristics. One important explanation of these inconsistencies may be the failure to study a variety of validity and generalizability variables simultaneously and in a single paradigm. Multivariate strategies reduce the risk of focusing too much attention on iso

Measures of academic motivation: A conceptual review

This review examines the measurement of academic motivation in college students. It distinguishes pencil-and-paper group-administered instruments according to their conceptions of academic motivation: academic motivation taken as a single general motivation, as single specific motivations, or as a complex of motivations. It evaluates these classes of instruments in terms of the interpretability and the utility of the information each type of instrument is likely to provide.

Exploring the Traits of Happy People

This paper explores self-reported happiness across afourfold personality framework that synthesizespsychoanalytic and psychometric approaches topersonality structure. Using survey data from arepresentative sample of the U.S. adult population, weidentified four personality types rooted in two basicdimensions – Extraversion/Introversion andTendermindedness/Toughmindedness. On a general level,we found that Extraverts were happier than Introverts,and Tendermindeds were happier than Toughmindeds. More specifically, we identified patterns ofsimilarities and differences across personality typesin the meaning of happiness with respect to goodeating habits, financial insecurity, anxiety andtension, financial optimism, and health concerns.

Construction and Development of the Academic Motivations Inventory (AMI

This paper reports the early development of the Academic Motivations Inventory (AMI), a self-report measure of the academic motivations of college students. Content validation procedures and the reliability of items and scales suggest that AMI is at present a promising instrument for group measurement (e.g., to describe the predominant motivations of students in a course) and that it may become, through refinement of the scales, a useful tool for individual assessment.

Relationship of Curriculum Area and Course Format with Student Ratings of Instruction

Multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant relationship between student ratings and curriculum area but not between ratings and course format. The technical and practical ramifications of these findings are discussed.

Distance Education via SMS Technology in Rural Bangladesh

Cell-phone SMS—Short Message Service—is helping bridge the Digital Divide in developing countries around the world. Beginning in Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries on Earth, and now extending into many other Third World countries, SMS offers synchronous and asynchronous interactive communication in situations where previously there was no communication at all, as between people in jungle villages and government or nongovernmental organization offices in major cities. SMS offers a wide variety of applications from public health to e-commerce. This article describes recent developments mainly in data collection and distance education.