SPOT Rating Interpretation Guides

There have been frequent requests in the past from UWA staff for comparative data for SPOT results. This is problematic, having the potential to result in unhelpful and invalid comparisons being made. It could also call into question the anonymity conditions of the SPOT system. Longitudinal comparisons of one’s own results over time may provide more valid and useful information.

However, on a trial basis, some broad comparative data on a few selected items are being provided this semester. This data will allow SPOT users to see whether their mean scores for these items fell in the top 25%, the middle 50%, or the bottom 25% of results obtained from people teaching in the same broad discipline category, course year and broad teaching type.

The categories were derived from a review of a number of studies of factors that influence student ratings. They have been kept broad to ensure sufficient size of the data sets, to limit the potential for inappropriate comparisons, to ensure anonymity of all individuals’ results and to enable a simple workable model. Core items 801, 802 and 803 were used as they provided the largest data sets.

Core/ Global items

• 801. the teacher has given clear and understandable explanations,
• 802. class sessions have been well organised,
• 803. overall, this teacher has been an effective instructor.

Broad Discipline Categories

• Arts/Humanities/ Social Sciences
• Science/Mathematics

Course Year Categories

• 1st Year (or mainly 1st Year)
• 2nd Year (or mainly 2nd Year)
• 3rd Year (or mainly 3rd Year)
• 4th Year (or mainly 4th Year) and higher

Teaching Type (broadly equated to large and small group teaching)

• About the Lecturing of
• About the tutoring/seminar teaching of

The comparative data comprises Rating Interpretation Guides (RIGs) and was derived from the original development of RIGs by Neumann et al. (1997). These are a set of 25 percentile and 75 percentile scores for each category of broad discipline group, course year and teaching type.The current RIGs were aggregated from SPOT data from 1996 and 1997.

We are seeking your feedback

This initiative raises a range of issues. It may provide value to some users and not others. It requires already scarce resources to generate such comparative data. We are most interested to get your reactions as to the usefulness or otherwise of these SPOT RIGs. Please email the SPOT office with your views.

Rating Interpretation Guides for Arts/ Humanities/ Social Studies Type of Disciplines*

Rating Interpretation Guides for Sciences/ Mathematics type of Disciplines*

* Middle point of the percentile scores is not necessarily the mean of all mean scores for a particular category.

Assume that the chart below shows the distribution of all mean scores for one of the items, obtained for a particular teaching type, year category and discipline group. In this example the 25 percentile score is a mean of 3.5 and the 75 percentile is a mean of 4.5. If your mean SPOT score for this item was above 4.5 it was in the upper 25% of scores. If it was between 3.5 and 4.5 it fell in the middle 50% of scores. If your score was below 3.5 it fell in the lower 25% of scores. In this latter case you may well want to look into the reasons for such a result. Please keep in mind that there are many factors influencing a particular teaching situation, other than the teaching itself.