scholarly journals How do Academic Faculty Members Perceive the Effect of Teaching Surveys Completed by Students on Appointment and Promotion Processes at Academic Institutions? A Case Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eyal Eckhaus ◽  
Nitza Davidovitch
Keyword(s):  
Research Performance ◽  
Student Evaluations ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Senior Faculty ◽  
Statistical Research ◽  
Academic Appointment ◽  
Academic Faculty ◽  
Research Findings

It is commonly thought that the promotion of faculty members is affected by their research performance. The current study is unique in examining how academic faculty members perceive the harm or damage to academic appointment and promotion processes, as a direct effect of student evaluations as manifested in teaching surveys. One hundred eighty two questionnaires were collected from senior faculty members at academic institutions. Most respondents were from three institutions: Ariel University, Ben Gurion University, and the Jezreel Valley College. Qualitative and statistical research tools were utilized, with the goal of forming a model reflecting the effect of the harm to academic appointment and promotion processes, as perceived by faculty members. The research findings show that the lecturers find an association that causes harm to their promotion processes as a result of student evaluations. Assuming that students' voices and their opinion of teaching are important – the question is how should these evaluations be treated within promotion and appointment processes: what and whom do they indicate? Do they constitute a reliable managerial tool with which it is possible to work as a foundation for promotion and appointment processes – or should other tools be developed, unrelated to students' opinions?

scholarly journals Teaching Students to Think - Faculty Recommendations for Teaching Evaluations Employing Automated Content Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitza Davidovitch ◽  
Eyal Eckhaus
Keyword(s):  
Student Evaluations ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Senior Faculty ◽  
Statistical Research ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Automated Content Analysis ◽  
Academic Faculty ◽  
Research Findings

Many studies have been conducted on teaching evaluations completed by students and on myths and facts concerning these evaluations performed by students at academic institutions. The current study is unique in examining the meaning of teaching evaluations as perceived by academic faculty members in Israel through direct questions, with an emphasis on faculty's recommendations for improving the evaluations to make students' comments meaningful for enhancing and advancing their teaching. The perception of evaluations is unique too. Evaluations are part of faculty's learning outputs in their courses, with the aim being for graduates of academic systems to have the ability to provide objective and fair assessments.One hundred seventy seven questionnaires were gathered from senior faculty at several academic institutions. Qualitative and statistical research tools were used in order to form a model that expresses the negative implications as seen by faculty members and alternatives for measuring the performance of faculty in academic teaching. The research findings indicate that lecturers note "professional" alternatives and see teaching evaluations as a populist rather than a professional tool. Moreover, although the lecturers gauge the damage caused to them as a result of student evaluations, where the enormous damage caused to them is disproportionate to the number of respondents, and although faculty members believe that student evaluations are untrustworthy, students' opinions on the courses are important. Their recommendation is that the evaluation should be a tool for teaching how to perform evaluations and convey criticism – and in this field not much has been done in academic institutions, if at all. Academia sees evaluations as a technical matter, a means of satisfying students by letting them express their opinions and of giving students a feeling that the system is attentive to their voice, to their views.Indeed, students' voice is important to the lecturers – their opinions of teaching are important – and that is precisely why action should be taken to render these evaluations fair. Students should understand the power of the words that express their evaluation of the lecturers. This point of view is a first of its kind, where academic faculty members support students' opinions and provide recommendations aimed at their improvement.

scholarly journals Senior Faculty Opinions on the Significance of Retirement Age - Employing Natural Language Processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Nitza Davidovitch ◽  
Eyal Eckhaus
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Academic Institution ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Senior Faculty ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Academic System ◽  
Academic Faculty ◽  
Research Findings

This study is a pioneer study examining the significance of retirement in terms of lost investments and outcomes. Research findings on the output of academic faculty and on measures of excellence in higher education indicate that upon retirement the academic institution as an organization loses not only faculty who are still capable of contributing both to research and to teaching, but rather also two other important products: valuable knowledge and experience accumulated by senior faculty in the academic system in light of the institution’s investments in them. 107 questionnaires were collected from senior faculty members in a case study of one academic institution. A combined research method was utilized, consisting of qualitative and statistical analysis, with the aim of exploring the significance of retirement in terms of lost input and output, as perceived by academic faculty members. The research findings indicate that indeed, as perceived by the faculty, academic institutions as an organization lose faculty who are still capable of contributing to both research and teaching, as well as valuable knowledge and experience accumulated by senior faculty members within the academic system, after being nurtured by the academic institution.

scholarly journals The Influence of Birth Country on Selection of Conference Destination - Employing Natural Language Processing

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitza Davidovitch ◽  
Eyal Eckhaus
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Birth Country ◽  
Academic Faculty ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Israel Studies ◽  
Former Ussr ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Academic Conferences

This study deals with immigrant scientists integrated in academia in Israel. Studies on the subject indicate the contribution of immigrant scientists to research. The current study focuses on the influence of scientists' birth country on selecting destinations for academic conferences, as well as on the influence of one's native language on the academic output resulting from research conferences. This is a pilot study exploring the effect of academic conferences from the perspective of birth country - comparing Israeli born and USSR born academics - on the motivation of faculty members to attend conferences, the nature of the conferences they select, the differences between Israeli natives and non-natives with regard to how their perceive the influence of conferences and their contribution to their academic work. This research offers a case study, investigating the effect of scholars from two different countries and cultural background, Israel and USSR. This pioneering research provides the grounds for many extensions, studies that will investigate the impact of other countries and their effect on conference selection. The study addresses a case study of a single university in Israel that absorbed many immigrant scientists from the former USSR in the 1990s. Ninety-four academic faculty members from various departments answered the questionnaire, of them 60.9% women and 39.1% men. Faculty members referred to the conference's contribution with regard to their professional development. In addition, the greater inclination of Israeli researchers than researchers born in the USSR to take their family members with them when travelling for conferences was noted. Since the contribution of immigrant scientists was found to be significant and since academic conferences are a significant part of the work of faculty members and receive considerable funds from academic institutions, the research findings might illuminate the choice of conferences by immigrant scientists and their preferences - compared to native born scientists - with the purpose of examining whether conferences are perceived by Israeli born faculty members as productive.

scholarly journals Effect of Personal and Occupational Characteristics on Attitudes to an Obligatory Retirement Age—A Content Analysis Investigation

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Eyal Eckhaus ◽  
Nitza Davidovitch
Keyword(s):  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Academic Rank ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Senior Faculty ◽  
Statistical Research ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Academic Administration ◽  
Occupational Characteristics ◽  
Academic Faculty

This study is a pioneer study examining the effects of personal and occupational background variables on the attitude of faculty members to an obligatory retirement age in academia. Previous studies on performance measures of academic faculty in research, teaching, academic administration, and contribution to the community, testified to associations between faculty member achievements and their personal characteristics (gender, age) as well as features related to their academic field of occupation (faculty, academic rank, tenure). Hence, these quality measures of academic faculty have meaning for and influence on research, even after the customary retirement age. Obligatory retirement age is a well-known issue and it is arousing much interest in general, and in academia in particular. Academic work includes activity focused on research, teaching, advisory work, participation in academic committees and conferences—namely, activities that require human thinking. This leads to the question of whether and to what degree personal and occupational characteristics are associated with the attitude of faculty members to retirement age. One hundred and eight questionnaires administered to senior faculty were collected in a case study of a single university. Qualitative and statistical research tools were employed, with the aim of creating a model that expresses the association between faculty members’ personal and occupational characteristics and their attitude to retirement age in academia. The research findings show that the background variables affecting the attitude of faculty members to retirement are age and tenure—faculty members’ age and status as tenured faculty determine their objection to the obligatory retirement age.

scholarly journals Student Evaluation of Lecturers – What do Faculty Members Think about the Damage Caused by Teaching Surveys?

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Nitza Davidovich ◽  
Eyal Eckhaus
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Student Evaluation ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Senior Faculty ◽  
Student Surveys ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Academic Faculty ◽  
Research Findings

Many studies have been conducted on teaching evaluations and student surveys. The current study is unique for examining, by means of direct questions, the meaning of teaching surveys as perceived by academic faculty in Israel. Senior faculty members at academic institutions completed questionnaires, with a total of 182 questionnaires collected. We employed mixed research methods, beginning with qualitative analysis followed by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), with the goal of developing a model that reflects faculty members’ beliefs on teaching surveys. The research findings show that the lecturers find that student evaluations are detrimental to their relationship with their students, and adversely affect their teaching practice and interpersonal interactions with their students. In view of the importance attributed to students' voices and their opinions of teaching, the question is how should these evaluations be addressed, Do teaching surveys constitute a reliable managerial tool and a foundation for improving teaching – or should other tools be developed to improve teaching practices, independent of students' opinions?

scholarly journals Argument for Tenure in the American Higher Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-65
Author(s):  
Majed s Allehaibi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
Social Sanctions ◽  
Research Findings

The article presents the arguments concerning tenure in academic institutions. Proponents of tenure argue that it protects professors from social sanctions such as criticism by political or religious powers outside campus that may disagree with the professor’s research findings and thus might pressure the institution to fire him or her. Opponents of tenure argue that the security that comes with tenure allows professors to become incompetent and slothful. After assessing the advantages and disadvantages of tenure, this article concludes that tenure could be an incentive attracting competent faculty members and allowing them to embark on long-term, risky research projects.

scholarly journals Organizational Political Tactics in Universities

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Bahareh Azizi Nejad ◽  
Mir Mohammad Seiied Abbaszadeh ◽  
Mohammad Hassani
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Research Method ◽  
T Test ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
State Universities ◽  
Inferential Statistics ◽  
Political Tactics ◽  
Academic Faculty ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Descriptive Survey

The present research aimed to promote understanding of political tactics in organizations. Political behavior innowadays-complex conditions is a process that the conflicts, contrasts and differences among interested groups areresolved. It means dialogue, attention to different goals in organizations, regarding the interest of different groups,attraction of staff cooperation, and acquisition of the worker’s support in management decisions, therefore technicaland organizational wisdom are not sufficient. Managers along the development of organizations need to havepolitical wisdom. In this study we surveyed political tactics perceptions of 1263 academic faculty members in WestAzarbaijan State Universities. The research method was a descriptive-survey. Among these academic members, 376individuals were chosen randomly as research sample. Questionnaire of ‘political tactics’ (r= 0.9) was used to collectdata. The data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics as well as t-test, MANOVA, andFreidman test. Research findings showed that there were significant differences between academic degrees of theacademic faculty members and political tactics used in the universities, whereas there was no any differencebetween gender of faculty members and political tactics. The survey revealed that the perceptions of political tacticsamong faculty members were different in West Azarbaijan State Universities; therefore, some practical suggestionsare recommended.

scholarly journals Advantages of Employment after Retirement – A Content Analysis Approach. What Is Academic Professional Experience Worth After Retirement Age?

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Nitza Davidovitch ◽  
Eyal Eckhaus
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Research Performance ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Academic Experience ◽  
Senior Faculty ◽  
The Public ◽  
Academic System ◽  
Academic Faculty ◽  
Performance Ability ◽  
Faculty Employment

This study is a pioneer study that examines the advantages of faculty employment after retirement age from the perspective of academic faculty. The economic-industrial literature suggests that prior experience is a major consideration in the industry, particularly in the process of selecting suppliers, and the weight given to occupational experience has an effect on other advantages as well.  108 questionnaires administered to senior faculty were collected in a case study of a single university. A combined research method including qualitative and statistical analyses was employed, with the aim of exploring the advantages of faculty employment at institutions of higher education after retirement age. The current research findings show that most of the faculty members claim that the experience accumulated by faculty who have passed the retirement age is their strongest advantage. Furthermore, professional-academic experience was found to correlate with other advantages, namely knowledge, international contacts, deeper familiarity with the global academic system, improved teaching capabilities, and improved ability to guide advanced studies. This, in addition to the advantages of personal-professional skills: more patience and greater research performance ability.  The findings raise the practical question of the implications for the academic system in general and for the public academic system in particular. In other words, how does the public system of higher education translate the advantages of previous academic experience beyond retirement age? What are the benefits for colleagues, young faculty, the institutions – and the system of higher education in general, with regard to research, teaching, and contribution to the community?

Student Evaluation of Teacher Effectiveness: A Case Study

1981 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 937-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Clifford Carbno
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Effectiveness ◽  
Student Evaluation ◽  
Generalizability Theory ◽  
Student Evaluations ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
College Instruction

Although student evaluations of instruction have been widely used in decisions that affect the welfare of faculty members for over a decade, questions about the dependability of such data are still apropos. This paper analyzes the generalizability of student evaluations of college instruction and applies generalizability theory data collected in an all too common design. The results suggest that the naive use of student evaluations as a measure of teacher effectiveness may lead to decisions that are based on data that are not very dependable.

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