STUDENT EVALUATIONS OF TEACHING CHALLENGES (PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS AT CHINHOYI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY IN ZIMBABWE)

Abstract

Student evaluations of teaching are quite popular and old quality assurance and yet full of challenges on implementation. The objective of the study was to establish challenges encountered by university students in evaluating lecturers at Chinhoyi University of Technology. In order to fulfil this objective, case study descriptive research design was adopted. The population of the study composed of Chinhoyi University students particularly from School of Entrepreneurship and Business Management. The sample composed sixty-seven students undertaking E-Business course. The research employed cluster sampling since the course is undertaken by different faculties. Data was gathered using semi-structured and unstructured questionnaires. On challenges encountered by students in conducting lecturer evaluations, there were perceptions that students do not consider them seriously. More so, students suspect that student evaluations are not used at all for the improvement of teaching and learning. In addition, students were reluctant to complete them since they feared to be personally identified and later victimised by lecturers. Furthermore, students perceived that lecturer ratings were generally biased by grade and mark expectations by students among other several factors. Therefore, the study recommends the university to use multiple methods of evaluating lecturers’ teaching. Secondly, evaluation of lecturers should be conducted during the semester and not left at the end of it, in order to have positive impact on teaching and learning.