Paper Title
Student Perceptions of Teaching Evaluations: Fruitful or A Waste of Time?

Abstract
Evaluating teachers is an established practice in universities around the world. In most universities this takes the form of students responding to a survey that includes statements pertaining to what goes on inside and outside the classroom. The survey may also highlight elements related to the personality of the teacher. Students normally rate the statements on a 5-likert scale. There have been many discussions on the area of validity and reliability of the results solicited by these surveys particularly with the fact that these results may affect high-stake decisions such as contract renewal and promotion. Some research studies have questioned the value of student evaluation of teaching while others have seen merit in them and therefore supported administering them. This presentation investigates the student perceptions toward evaluating their teachers. The presentation discusses the results of a survey that was administered to a group of 80 students studying at Sultan Qaboos University, the only government university in the Sultanate of Oman. The survey includes 18 statements on a 5-point Likert scale with 1 being strongly agree and 5 being strongly disagree. The survey also includes 3 open-ended questions. The presenter will start by highlighting the theoretical underpinnings of the topic of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness. She will then report the results obtained from the survey highlighting in particular students' opinions of the importance of administering the Teaching Evaluation Survey (TES), the seriousness they show when completing it, their perceptions of how TES results are viewed by the university and factors affecting their response to TES. The presentation will finish with implications and recommendations.