Mayborn School of Journalism Position: Effectiveness of SPOT evaluations
Background
University of North Texas has used the SPOT evaluation system for several years to help determine the effectiveness of all professors at UNT. SPOT stands for Student Perceptions of Teaching. The SPOT evaluations are posted near the end of each semester and are used to provide feedback on professors and their teaching effectiveness. They are done through a standardized survey ranking the professor throughout the course. Faculty members are allowed to put their own questions on the surveys. These surveys can be controversial because of reports of bias, discrimination, and unreliable data. These evaluations can also influence faculty staffing decisions.
SPOT evaluations were created by the University of Washington in 2015. They were adopted by UNT that summer in order to comply with the State of Texas House Bill 2504. Information on the SPOT evaluations can be found through the UNT official website and some of the highlights featured are:
Customizable forms based on courses
Reports available 3 days after final grades are posted
Students are sent direct links based on their classes
15 separate types of forms based on course type
Faculty can add their own questions
Results based on previous semesters
Statement
The Mayborn School of Journalism teaching effectiveness should be evaluated not only on SPOT evaluations but on other forms as well such as peer reviews and teaching portfolios. (University of Michigan, 2021) SPOT evaluations are not the only accurate way to rate the effectiveness of the Mayborn faculty and instructors. Other strategies for rating the teaching effectiveness would benefit both faculty and students.
Peer evaluations are a better determination
The peer-to-peer evaluations will be much more effective in determining teaching effectiveness at the Mayborn. Peer to peer evaluations could take place in both the classroom and outside of the classroom by fellow colleagues. These are conducted through watching in class teaching and developing portfolios that can be reviewed and edited. This can be very helpful, especially by allowing more senior teachers to review their fellow less experienced teachers and provide feedback and constructive criticism. This allows for more knowledgeable feedback on areas of teaching that students cannot reach. (University of Michigan, 2021)
Limited perspective
SPOT evaluations capture the opinions from students but not from faculty or others. So, when professors see the results, they are only considering what students are thinking. This can cause the evaluations to have a very limited perspective on certain aspects of teaching. Some students don’t fill out the evaluation forms, which can lead to an even smaller prospective pool. The detail provided from these surveys is also not adequate to rate all areas of professors teaching. (Hornstein, 2017)
SPOT Evaluations are biased
SPOT evaluations are given at the end of the semester and are often paired with extra credit (Quatrino, 2017) for students who fill it out. This can lead to bias; students will only fill it out if they are being given the extra credit. For example, students who strongly dislike a professor based on syllabi, such as attendance or homework policy, will give their evaluation based on those things and not based on how the professor teaches. People tend to rely more on likeability rather than performance. (Mackenzie, Wehner & Correll, 2019)
Concerns on why to keep SPOT evaluations
The reasons that make the SPOT evaluations so easy to do are the reasons the assessment is widely used. These evaluations were made and tailored specifically to make it easy for students to rate their professors.
SPOT evaluations are standardized among universities and faculty. SPOT evaluations that are used at the university level are all the same. There is a small exception of some professors adding in their own questions based on the syllabus or the material. These are questions about specialty parts in a course. This allows for stronger reliability for the student perspective. (Yan et al, 2022)
One benefit to using SPOT evaluations are that each form is filled out and stored anonymously. Because of this, students can speak freely on their forms. There are some negative consequences such as inappropriate reviews, misuse and bias. However, students are less likely to fill out feedback if they know their name or identity is attached. (University of Iowa, 2025)
SPOT evaluations provide a safe space for student voices. These evaluations can give students who wouldn’t normally speak up a chance to speak up and write their feelings. These are a way for students to speak up without fear of prosecution. SPOT evaluations should in remain in place because at UNT they are the only open forum for students to be open and honest about professors and their sources. (Adams, 2024)
Recommendations
Recommendations for professors
Senior professors should take in a less experienced professor for them to evaluate throughout the semester. This can allow for closer peer to peer evaluations from trusted professors. Peer to peer evaluations should take place at the beginning and the end of the semester. This would be where the senior professor will evaluate the teaching in the classroom and the work outside of the classroom. This would only take two classes over the course of the semester.
Recommendations for students
Students should continue to fill out their SPOT evaluations with honesty and unbiased opinions. Students should also support the roll out of new ways of professor teaching effectiveness evaluations. Students would continue over the next four or five semesters still filling out SPOT evaluations. However, each semester new ways of teaching evaluations would be tested. Allowing for student feedback on what worked.
Recommendations for other UNT faculty
UNT faculty should begin to roll out new ways of end of semester evaluations. SPOT evaluations will need to still be used for a time while new ways are being invented and used. Administration and faculty should also incentivize professors for participating in new ways of evaluations and allow them to give their opinions. Doing away with SPOT evaluations would allow professors for a new mentorship with their peers. This would also professors more feedback in the middle of the semester and more time to improve their teaching.
Reference list
Adams, B. (2024, April 14). They’re not always spot-on. NTDaily.com. https://www.ntdaily.com/opinion/theyre-not-always-spot-on/article_0f34a76b-8e7e-561d-a81b-ba281ef52cd0.html#:~:text=A%20lot%20of%20times%20the,good%2C%20bad%20and%20downright%20truthful.
Hirschman, A. D. (2019, June 22). Protecting students or enabling trolls? why faculty evaluations should not be totally anonymous. scatterplot. https://scatter.wordpress.com/2019/06/22/protecting-students-or-enabling-trolls-why-faculty-evaluations-should-not-be-totally-anonymous/#:~:text=The%20true%20anonymity%20of%20the%20student%20evaluations,and%20other%20absolutely%20inappropriate%20communica
Mackenzie, et al (2019, January 11). Why most performance evaluations are biased, and how to fix them. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2019/01/why-most-performance-evaluations-are-biased-and-how-to-fix-them
Peer Review of teaching | CRLT. Peer Review of teaching |2021 University of Michigan https://crlt.umich.edu/resources/peer-review . (n.d.). https://crlt.umich.edu/resources/peer-review
Quatrino, N. (2024, April 14). UNT students grading professors using Spot Evaluations. NTDaily.com. https://www.ntdaily.com/arts_and_life/unt-students-grading-professors-using-spot-evaluations/article_d510b2fb-e42f-5e75-884e-719ed0f5f3fc.htmlThree ways to improve response rates on student perceptions of teaching (spot) surveys. Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost (2025, April 3). - The University of Iowa. https://provost.uiowa.edu/news/2025/04/three-ways-improve-response-rates-student-perceptions-teaching-spot-surveys
Spot. University of North Texas. (n.d.). https://vpaa.unt.edu/spot/index.html
Student Evaluations of teaching are an inadequate assessment tool for evaluating faculty performance. 2017 Harry Hornstein https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1304016
Study finds gains from teacher evaluations. Center for Education Policy Analysis. (2013, October 17) Thomas Dee, James Wyckoff). https://cepa.stanford.edu/news/study-finds-gains-teacher-evaluations#:~:text=The%20evidence%20available%20to%20date,(effect%20size%20=%200.24).
Stark, P. B., & Freishtat, R. (2014, September 29). An evaluation of course evaluations. Science Open. https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14293%2FS2199-1006.1.SOR-EDU.AOFRQA.v1
Yan, et al (2022, September 29). A literature review of the research on students’ evaluation of teaching in higher education. Frontiers in psychology. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9558720/?
