A Case Study of Improving Instruction by Utilizing Online Instruction Diagnosis Item Pool

One of the main factors that determine the quality of instruction is the teaching ability of the instructor administering the class. To evaluate teaching ability, methods such as peer review, student feedback, and teaching portfolio can be used. Among these, because feedback from the students is directly associated with how well the students feel they have learned, it is essential to improving instruction and teaching ability. The principal aim of instruction evaluation lies in the evaluation of instructor's qualification and the improvement of instruction quality by enhancing professionalism. However, the mandatory instruction evaluations currently being carried out at the term's end in universities today have limitations in improving instruction in terms of its evaluation items and times. To improve the quality of instruction and raise teaching abilities, instruction evaluations should not stop at simply being carried out but also be utilized as useful data for students and teachers. In other words, they need to be used to develop teaching and improve instruction for teachers, and consequently, should also exert a positive influence on students' scholastic achievements and learning ability. The most important thing in evaluation is the acquisition of accurate information and how to utilize it to improve instruction. The online instruction diagnosis item pool is a more realistic feedback device developed to improve instruction quality. The instruction diagnosis item pool is a cafeteria-like collection of hundreds of feedback questions provided to enable instructors to diagnose their instruction through self-diagnosis or students' feedback, and the instructors can directly select the questions that are appropriate to the special characteristics of their instruction voluntarily make use of them whenever they are needed. The current study, in order to find out if the online instruction diagnosis item pool is truly useful in reforming and improving instruction, conducted pre and post tests using 256 undergraduate students from Y university as subjects, and studied the effects of student feedback on instructions. Results showed that the implementation of instruction diagnosis improved students' responsibility regarding their classes, and students had positive opinions regarding the usefulness of online instruction diagnosis item pool in instruction evaluation. Also, after instruction diagnosis, analyzing the results through consultations with education development specialists, and then establishing and carrying out instruction reforms were shown to be more effective. In order to utilize the instruction diagnostic system more effectively, from planning the execution of instruction diagnosis to analyzing the results, consulting, and deciding how those results could be utilized to instruction, a systematic strategy is needed. In addition, professors and students need to develop a more active sense of ownership in order to elevate the level of their instruction.