The Student as a Commentator: Students’ Comments in Student Evaluations of Teaching

Abstract

Little is known about students’ comments in student evaluations of teaching. In the current study on around 70% of the SET- surveys received, a comment was written by a student. Most students’ comments deal with, a good combination between theory and practice, the build-up of the course, and whether it is interesting and relevant. They emphasize aspects already asked for in the fixed-ended questions, but also provide information that was not part of the SET-survey. The results of a logistic regression analysis showed a consistency between students’ comments and SET-scores. Surveys that were received with low-SET scores have a larger chance to receive negative comments about various aspects of the course. In general students seems to take their task as a commentator, seriously. As to the content of the comments received, the context plays an important role. This indicates that more research in different contexts is necessary and that one should take into account this context when conducting SET.