Anonymous student A (Dept. of International Trade, 21), who did a “lecture evaluation” before checking last semester's grades, answered all the questions in 10 seconds. Because he rarely read the multiple-choice questions and left the subjective questions blank. Student A said, "I think the subjective questions will help improve the lecture quality, but I don't want to waste time because I don't know whether it was reflected."

It was found that most Pusan National University (PNU) students did not correctly evaluate lectures as Student A did, so the lecture evaluation did not produce meaningful results. For lecture evaluation to become a medium that improves the quality of classes and facilitates communication between professors and students, supplementation seems necessary.

Currently, the lecture evaluation of PNU is conducted twice a semester. “interim lecture evaluation” consists of four multiple-choice questions and one subjective type, and the “final lecture evaluation” consists of nine multiple-choice questions and one subjective type. The student who selected the lowest score (one point) in the multiple-choice question in the lecture evaluation must write down the specific reason. The final course evaluation is mandatory before checking the grades.

According to the “PNU Lecture Evaluation Survey” conducted by "Channel PNU" on 153 students from October 7th to 25th, 76% of students faithfully participated in the multiple-choice questions in the lecture evaluation. On the other hand, more than half of the students did not diligently participate in the subjective questions that can suggest specific improvements.

These results show that lecture evaluation does not improve the quality of lectures. Seo Jae-Kwon (Prof. of Politics & Diplomacy) said, "It is not enough to confirm the satisfaction and improvement points for the lecture only with the multiple-choice results, and there are many unexpected points in the subjective answers of students, so it is difficult to reflect them in lecture improvement, and there are few students who write content that can be reflected in lecture improvement."

■ Is the Result of the Lecture Evaluation Reflected in Class?

The students thought that the lecture evaluation could not have led to lecture improvement. To the question, "Does the lecture evaluation result seem to be reflected in the lecture?" 25% answered "Yes," while 37% answered "No." Survey respondents said, "Professors don't seem to care about the lecture evaluation, and some professors have been writing the same questions in exams for several years, so the lecture evaluation result is not reflected." It suggested that if there is a way to know whether lecture evaluation leads to lecture improvement, participation in lecture evaluation may increase.

In PNU, there is no direct way to confirm that the problem has been improved after the lecture evaluation. When students register for courses, they can only check the results of the lecture evaluation for the same semester in the previous academic year. Since the results of lecture evaluation are reflected in the teacher's achievement, reward (educator award), and educational activity expenses, it is not directly connected to the improvement of the lecture.

Survey respondents are demanding interactive communication. They expressed opinions, such as "I hope that the professor will inform the students about which part of the lecture would improve based on the lecture evaluation result, and there is a need for an institutional mechanism for professors to write and notify students of lecture evaluation feedback." According to a dissertation at The Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society (KAIS) in 2010, the University of Kent in the UK uses interactive feedback systems that inform students of the professor's plan for improvement for lectures according to the student evaluation.

■ The Effectiveness of Lecture Evaluation Should Be Improved

However, the University Headquarters believed that the current method of checking the evaluation of lectures is the best. It is difficult to confirm the improvement of the lectures because the current students and the next semester's students are different.

Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a plan to make the mid-course evaluation mandatory or to activate it. If interim lecture evaluation, which can improve lectures during the course period, is compulsory, like the final lecture evaluation, the effectiveness of lecture evaluation can be increased. An anonymous student B (Dept. of Business & Administration) said, "If the interim lecture evaluation is activated, it will be possible to supplement the students' reckless answers and one-way communication, which are the problems of the current lecture evaluation and I hope that it will be developed into a more meaningful lecture evaluation through supplementary measures that allow active participation of students and active reflection of professors' opinions."

Reporter Sim Se-Hee

Translated by Seo Hae-Seong