Abstract

This article examines the relationship between student course evaluations and course selection by quantifying how changes in undergraduate course ratings correlate with changes in enrollments at a large research university in the northeastern United States. We find that an improvement in a course’s overall course rating (from year t-1 to year t) tends to be followed by an increase in a course’s enrollment (from year t to t + 1). The magnitude of this effect differs by course type, with the strongest effect observed in the general curriculum and a smaller effect found in departmental courses. This supports other research that finds a correlation between unofficial course ratings and enrollments in general curriculum courses. We also find that an increase in a course’s difficulty rating (from year t-1 to year t) tends to be followed by a decrease in a course’s enrollment (from year t to t + 1) for general curriculum courses, but not for departmental courses. Therefore, selection of general curriculum courses is much more sensitive to student evaluations than courses offered in a field of study.

摘要

本文通过量化本科课程评分的变化与美国东北部一所大型研究型大学的招生人数变化之间的关系，研究了学生课程评估与课程选择之间的关系。我们发现一门课程的整体课程评分的提高（从 t-1 年到 t 年）往往会伴随着课程注册人数的增加（从 t 年到t  + 1 年）。这种影响的程度因课程类型而异，在普通课程中观察到的影响最强，在部门课程中发现的影响较小。这支持其他研究发现非官方普通课程的课程评分和入学率。我们还发现，一门课程难度等级的增加（从 t-1 年到 t 年）往往会导致 普通课程的课程注册人数减少（从 t 年到t + 1），但对于部门课程则不然。课程。因此，通识课程的选择对学生的评价比某个研究领域提供的课程要敏感得多。