What makes an instructor good?

This essay from WSJ argues that instructors who follow eight principles help students achieve.

1. A little pain is good for you.
2. Drill, baby, drill.
3. Failure is an option.
4. Strict is better than nice.
5. Creativity can be learned.
6. Grit trumps talent.
7. Praise makes you weak...
8. ...while stress makes you strong.

This article points out that the incentives at a growing number of colleges may induce instructors from following these principles. An implication is that student evaluations should not be viewed in isolation from the grades students earn in the course.

Here is another opinion that relying on evaluations does not promote learning and does promote higher GPAs.

Here and here and here is a two-part post on what evaluations measure.