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In higher education, student evaluations of teaching (SETs) serve a critical role in providing feedback on course content, instructional methods, and overall student learning experiences. The purpose of SETs is to help educators improve the quality of instruction and identify areas for refinement. Additionally, SETs provide institutions with data for making informed decisions about course improvements and faculty performance. However, it is important to recognize that SETs are not without limitations. SETs can be prone to biases, such as gender, race, or personality biases, which may skew results (Stroebe, 2020). Furthermore, students may not always take SETs seriously, leading to concerns about the validity and reliability of the feedback collected (Sullivan et al., 2024).
Ratings on SETs are not always related to the quality of teaching. Students, especially those earlier in their educational programs, acknowledge that they are more likely to give positive ratings for courses with easier or fewer examinations (Almakadma et al., 2023). There is evidence that more challenging courses and courses with a higher workload receive lower ratings on SETs and that students in health care programs tend to rate clinical and elective courses more positively (Constantinou & Wijnen-Meijer, 2022). In recent years, the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused changes in the learning experience, some of which have been sustained and have been correlated with changed student ratings on SETs (Rayner & Papakonstantinou, 2024). Rayner and Papakonstantinou (2024) found that students' perceptions of teaching excellence were significantly lower in 2022 (during the pandemic) compared with 2017; however, mean SETs were significantly higher in 2022 compared with 2017, indicating a discordance between SETs and students' perceptions of teaching excellence.
One of the main problems with using SETs is the consistently low response rates, which have been well-documented in the literature (Lipsey & Shepperd, 2021). Low response rates can lead to incomplete or biased data, making it hard to reach meaningful conclusions from the feedback. When only a small portion of students complete SETs, the results may overly represent the views of those with extremely positive or negative experiences, distorting the overall picture. This lack of engagement can hinder the usefulness of SETs as a tool...