Publication Date

7-16-2008

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Dr. Steve Wininger (Director), Dr. Pitt Derryberry, Dr. Carl Myers

Comments

Acknowledgements I would first like to thank Dr. Steven Wininger for providing me with guidance throughout the long process of writing this thesis. I appreciate all of your hard work and patience! To Dr. Pitt Derryberry, thank you for serving on my thesis committee. You have provided me numerous helpful suggestions and ideas to help better my thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Carl Myers for not only serving on my thesis committee but for the unending support and guidance throughout the last three years in the School Psychology program. Thank you for having confidence in me and pushing me to do my best! Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends for all of their support and patience they have given to me throughout graduate school.

Degree Program

Department of Psychology

Degree Type

Specialist of Education

Abstract

This study looked to gain information and detail on seven sources of instructional feedback. Instructor’s utilization and perceived value of those sources were examined, along with fulfillment of psychological needs and present job satisfaction. Instructors from Western Kentucky University (WKU; N = 126) were solicited as participants. An online survey included five different measures.

The first, a Sources of Feedback Questionnaire, was created to examine various sources of instructional feedback utilized by participants (institutional student ratings, consultation with faculty, soliciting feedback from students, self-assessment, self-observation, peer/administrator observation, and team teaching). The second measure, adapted from the Basic Needs Satisfaction questionnaire (Deci et al., 2001), was based on the proposal that with the satisfaction of basic needs instructors will show greater job satisfaction. The third questionnaire was a measure of present job satisfaction (Larkin, 1990; Oshagbemi, 1995; Oshagbemi, 1999). The fourth measure was a measure of Competence Valuation (Elliot et al., 2000). The final measure was a basic questionnaire created to obtain demographic information for each participant. Of the seven sources of feedback studied, self-assessment (i.e., reflection) was found to be the most utilized source, whereas self-observation (i.e., videotaping) was found to be the least utilized. The most helpful source of feedback to improve an instructor’s effectiveness was soliciting feedback from students; institutional student ratings were found to be the least helpful. Soliciting feedback from students was also found to be the most useful source of feedback for improving teaching. Job satisfaction was significantly correlated with the three basic psychological needs as well as two other items from the basic needs questionnaire (enjoyment and effort). Job satisfaction of participants was also significantly correlated with competence valuation and the utilization of institutional student ratings. In terms of fulfillment of the basic psychological needs and utilization of the feedback sources, relatedness was the only need that was found to be significantly correlated with utilization of feedback.

Disciplines

Cognitive Psychology | Psychology

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