Navigating teaching performance in the new normal: insights from student ratings

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption worldwide, forcing higher education institutions to adopt blended learning. This sudden shift posed numerous challenges for both students and faculty members, making it essential to accurately evaluate teaching performance and effectiveness. Caraga State University, for instance, assesses teaching performance based on several criteria: communication, instruction, consultation, and assessment, each with varying weights. Concerns have arisen regarding the non-uniform distribution of these weights, and it remains unclear which criterion most significantly impacts overall teaching performance as perceived by students. This study analyzed 22,825 samples from Caraga State University's personnel evaluation system for the first semester of the 2021-2022 academic year using artificial neural networks (ANN). The study sought to uncover patterns in the data and provide insights into faculty performance. The results revealed that in the context of blended learning, assessment and academic integrity (AAI) influence most students' ratings of faculty performance. Engagement and consultation (EC) follow, with communication and instruction having the lowest relative importance. This study contributes to improving teaching strategies and enhancing the student’s learning experience in higher education institutions.