Workload and student course ratings in dental school

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Dental Education

Background:

• Faculty often question if course workload or difficulty influences student evaluations.
• Previous research indicated higher workloads correlate with better course ratings, suggesting no bias.
• The impact of workload on student ratings in dental education remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between course workload and student ratings within a dental school setting.
• To determine if course workload acts as a biasing factor in dental student course evaluations.

Main Methods:

• Collected student course ratings for 191 didactic courses over three academic years.
• Categorized courses into high, medium, and low workload groups based on student-reported comparative workload.
• Analyzed the correlation between workload categories and 13 specific student rating items.

Main Results:

• Courses with low workloads received significantly higher student ratings across 11 of 13 evaluated items.
• This finding contrasts with previous undergraduate research suggesting workload does not bias ratings.
• Course workload was found to significantly affect student ratings in the dental school context.

Conclusions:

• In dental schools, course workload appears to be a significant biasing factor in student course ratings.
• These results necessitate a re-evaluation of how student feedback is interpreted by faculty and administrators.
• Findings have implications for curriculum committees and course directors regarding feedback and evaluation processes.