Instructor factors associated with medical students' lecture evaluation: a longitudinal analysis

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Higher Education Studies

Background:

• Student lecture evaluations are crucial for assessing teaching effectiveness.
• Understanding factors influencing these evaluations can improve pedagogical strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify factors impacting lecture evaluations among university sophomores.
• To analyze distinct student trajectories based on evaluation feedback.
• To compare characteristics and differences across identified clusters.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of sophomore student data from Dankook University.
• Examination of characteristics within identified student clusters.
• Comparative analysis of differences among student trajectories.

Main Results:

• Increased teaching hours per instructor and more instructors per lecture correlated with lower evaluation scores.
• Two distinct trajectories emerged: one with lower overall scores but higher textbook appropriateness and punctuality, the other with higher scores across all items.
• Differences in trajectories were more pronounced in teaching methods (content understanding, lecture usefulness) than external factors (textbook, punctuality).

Conclusions:

• Instructional methods significantly influence lecture satisfaction more than external factors.
• Recommendations include enhancing instructors' teaching competencies and optimizing teaching hours with adequate instructor allocation.
• Improving lecture quality requires a focus on pedagogical approaches and resource management.