A Survey of Students' Opinions towards Methods of Teaching and Evaluation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to consider the role of evaluation in higher education besed upon student opinions regarding plans for reform of evaluation and learning. In order to do this, it is also necessary to come to a better understanding of the actual conditions of learning and evaluation in today's institutions of higher education. The results of the survey show that there are a number of problems regarding education and evaluation at the university level today. As an example, a proposal for having students evaluate their teachers' instructional methods was very popular among students. This means that most students are actually dissatisfied with teaching methods they undergo in today's university lectures. Today's students also have a lack of faith in criteria for evaluation and therefore also distrust the evaluation system. This lack of faith in evaluation appears to be related to test reliability and validity. Using tests with low reliability and validity creates numerous problems. Most evaluation is not formative in nature, but usually just simple "overall evaluation." Under conditions such as these it is obviously impossible to use the results of evaluation as a basis for improvement of instructional methods. The importance of the university entrance examination system is strengthened further because it also serves a selective function for possible entrance into the higher levels of socity. Generally speaking, students' academic records during their years of higher education do not play a very vital role in Japan. However, if it were possible for academic records to come to serve a more important role, the problems of the current, severely competitive university entrance examination system could be alleviated, at least to an extent. Institutions of higher education in Japan need to start to more strongly realize as well as promote the importance of evaluation in order to help solve the problems of the current entrance examination system. Every institution of higher education should reform its method of evaluation, not just to improve its educational system but to also help fulfill its roles in society. Further research into these areas must be continued in the future.