Comparing current and former student evaluations of course and instructor quality

Halo error, ratings of instruction quality, and attitudes toward completing teaching evaluations were examined across two studies of undergraduate communication students. In both studies, comparisons between current students (i.e., students currently enrolled in a given instructor's course) and former students (i.e., students who took an instructor more than one semester ago) were made along evaluative criteria. Results indicated former students rated instructors and course content less positively and exhibited greater variability (i.e., less halo) among study factors compared to current students. Attitudes toward completing student evaluations were positively related to ratings of course instruction. Partial support was found for the hypothesis that proposed current students would use dispositional cues (e.g., instructor immediacy), whereas former students would use more situational cues (e.g., course difficulty) when rating course and instructor quality.