Does Instructor Availability Matter to Students? Evidence From Course Evaluations
Keywords:
instructor availabilityAbstract
Student perceptions of instructor availability outside of class are examined both as a predictor of instructor quality and as an outcome of student, instructor, and course characteristics. Data represent a 30-year case study record of course evaluations and instructor professional and personal variables. Student perceptions of instructor availability have a statistically significant positive relationship with student ratings of instruction beyond what is explained by other sets of instructional variables. These results suggest that faculty members' ratings of instructional quality may improve with increased availability to students outside of class; however, it is not entirely clear what exactly it looks like to students for faculty to be available outside of class.
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