Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET)
The Student Evaluation of Teaching is the primary instrument that the University of the Philippines uses to assess teaching performance. Students accomplish the SET. in the last three weeks of the semester or trimester, or in the last week of the midyear term. SET accomplishment is done online through the Computerized Registration System (CRS) platform. Students who fail to accomplish the SET in a particular term lose their CRS pre-enlistment prerogative during the enlistment for the succeeding semester.
Teachers are able to view their SET results for a given semester/term two weeks after the last day of the submission of grades for said semester/term. SET results are released through the CRS platform, and once released, can be accessed anytime by the faculty. Aside from the faculty member concerned, the head of her/his home unit, the college secretary of her/his college/unit, and the Director of the Office for the Advancement of Teaching (OAT) can view the faculty’s SET results.
Department chairs and institute directors are expected to discuss SET results with their faculty and if needed, identify how the faculty may improve their teaching effectiveness.
The OAT manages the Student Evaluation of Teachers (SET) with the support of the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) and Computerized Registration System (CRS) team. The SET provides insights for evaluating university faculty according to the specific courses they teach, and more broadly, the performance of academic programs. Through the SET, the university gains insights into the achievement of course and learning objectives, and valuable feedback and suggestions from students.
The SET covers three dimensions: the course, teacher, and student. Teachers should take time to review the feedback for each of these dimensions and use the information towards enhancing student learning in the courses that they teach. For purposes of renewal, tenure and promotion, only the SET results pertaining to the teacher are considered. The same is true when screening applicants for grants/fellowships or nominees for awards, when teaching performance is one of the criteria for the selection of grantees/awardees.
SET through the years
The SET has undergone several changes over the years, and remains an interesting subject of academic research and inquiry. In December 2014, the OAT conducted an analysis of students’ qualitative responses and comments, a key development in the analysis of SET results.
How to interpret the revised SET ratings
A. For purposes of Decision-Making of the CU and/or UP System, involving teaching effectiveness as part of the criteria for appointment renewals, tenure, promotions, awards, etc.
1. The 15 items of the SET have equal weights and use a rating scale with a range of 1.0 (lowest) to 5.0 (highest). The response format is in terms of student’s reported observed frequency of specific teaching behaviors to provide a relatively quantifiable and objective measure.
- The mean rating of the 15 items is the measure of Teaching Effectiveness of a teacher in a specific class. The mean (average) rating = the sum of all 15 ratings divided by 15. A higher mean rating means greater teaching effectiveness.
- The minimum mean value = 1.00 indicating very low teaching effectiveness, and the maximum mean value = 5.00 indicating very high teaching effectiveness. The value of 3.00 is to be interpreted as equivalent to a moderate (not neutral) value. Cut-offs for decisions are determined by CUs.
- The qualitative items of the SET serve to complement the SET ratings and may be useful for decisions such as appointment renewals and tenure recommendations.
1 = very low teaching effectiveness
2 = low teaching effectiveness
3 = average teaching effectiveness
4 = high teaching effectiveness
5 = very high teaching effectiveness
2. Academic units may distinguish between undergraduate and graduate SET ratings of faculty to provide the context (degree level) of the ratings.
- If academic units will consolidate undergraduate and graduate ratings, these may be weighted according to their values in relation to teaching, research, and public service of the unit, rather than averaged.
3. The SET mean ratings are best used as a part of a comprehensive teaching performance system using other indicators such as variety of courses and type of courses taught, teaching load, mentoring, etc.
- The UP System, CUs or Academic Units within the CU will determine the weight of the SET mean ratings in such a performance system according to the specific objectives of their decisions
B. For purposes of Personal Feedback and Development
1. Specific SET item scores can be provided to teachers along with the qualitative comments as feedback for improvement of teaching behaviors
- NOTE: The applicability of the 15 SET items is not confined to lecture classes. If additional items are created to reflect particular contexts, these will not be considered part of the core 15 items of the SET, but as a different additional measure for special types of courses (e.g. fieldwork). It is recommended that the additional measure should not be too long and should also be tested for reliability and validity.
2. Based on a content analysis of all non-lecture SETs across the CUs, these are the 4 themes for teaching effectiveness for non-lecture courses that must be included in the additional measure:
- Guidance and Supervision
- Proper Demonstration of Techniques & Methods
- Integration of Theoretical & Practical Learning
- Provision of Opportunities for Students to Develop Resourcefulness & Adaptability
