Rigor, Grades, Support, and the Amount of Time Students Spend Outside of Class: A Comparison of Full- and Part-time Faculty in an Entertainment and Music Business Program

Kristél Pfeil Kemmerer
Belmont University

Abstract

MEIEA institutional data suggest entertainment and music business programs have historically relied heavily on part-time “professionally-oriented” faculty for delivery of their programs. This study analyzes faculty course evaluations and surveys to examine the relationships between perceived course rigor, anticipated and earned final grades, faculty accessibility and support, and the amount of time students spend outside the classroom preparing for class. Analyses of by-course data found no significant differences between student opinions of part-time and full-time faculty performance and/or courses taught by adjunct or full-time instructors. Results here suggest that the evaluation and comparison of faculty performance, across courses and between full- and part-time instructors, when based on student-generated perceptual data, may be highly unreliable and should be used with great caution.

Keywords: course rigor, grades, adjunct, faculty, performance, evaluations, accessibility, support, entertainment business, music business, MEIEA

Kemmerer, Kristél Pfeil. “Rigor, Grades, Support, and the Amount of Time Students Spend Outside of Class: A Comparison of Full- and Part-time Faculty in an Entertainment and Music Business Program.” Journal of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association 14, no. 1 (2014): 123-156. https://doi.org/10.25101/14.5

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