Course evaluations
Today's Lesson:
Paula Wilder
Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Forum
First-year Margie Farmer's comments might require an explanation from her professor in his self-evaluation and might raise some questions with the FAC.
Farmer had a bad experience and reflected this in the evaluation.
"I needed (the professor) to show me what to do, not tell me," said Farmer. "He is the worst teacher and I wrote it all down in my evaluation and gave him all Fs."
After hearing this, I asked Shapiro what happens when a student gives professors scathing reports - warranted or not.
"There are some problems with any sort of evaluation process," said Shapiro. "In the self-study that (the professors) submit to FAC when they are reviewed, faculty address many things, including what students have written in the course evaluations. FAC will see both the course evaluations and the faculty member's response."
Senior Jamie Metrick thinks some unwarranted responses might be resolved if students had to put their names on them.
"The anonymity of it means that people know they can say whatever they want and get away with it."
In contrast, senior Crystal Harris believes that anonymity is best.
"I think (anonymous evaluations) are a good way for students to be honest in their opinion of their professors," said Harris. "It is always a good thing to have the ability to freely speak your mind."
Campbell knows that some students don't take them seriously or use the evaluations to complain.
"There have been people who rush through them so they can leave class early," said Campbell. "Others have problems with a teacher and give them the worst ratings and complain in the comment section, but that is rare."
Sophomore David Watters agrees with Campbell, but believes the presentation should be different.
"(The evaluations) could be done in a much better way," said Watters. "They are usually done at the end of the year and the end of class and people just want to leave."
These same issues have been studied for decades. However, all the studies have ambiguous findings.
Some studies state that evaluations are valuable, others say they have no value, and even others criticize schools that use them in the review process. Yet others report that utilizing them as part of the review process helps hold professors accountable.
Some studies show a gender/race bias when it comes to evaluating professors. Women and non-Caucasians are evaluated much harsher than white male professors are.
Even though the results are conflicting, the truth is that Guilford does use the evaluations, so here are the conclusions I've drawn:
Take the evaluations seriously.
Write as if your name is attached.
Don't use it as a personal attack.
Be honest, but fair.
The bottom-line - when we fill out those empty bubbles and empty spaces at the end of this semester, we need to make sure our comments have validity.
Consider the fact that we are talking about a real person who has a real stake in what we say and how we say it.
Farmer had a bad experience and reflected this in the evaluation.
"I needed (the professor) to show me what to do, not tell me," said Farmer. "He is the worst teacher and I wrote it all down in my evaluation and gave him all Fs."
After hearing this, I asked Shapiro what happens when a student gives professors scathing reports - warranted or not.
"There are some problems with any sort of evaluation process," said Shapiro. "In the self-study that (the professors) submit to FAC when they are reviewed, faculty address many things, including what students have written in the course evaluations. FAC will see both the course evaluations and the faculty member's response."
Senior Jamie Metrick thinks some unwarranted responses might be resolved if students had to put their names on them.
"The anonymity of it means that people know they can say whatever they want and get away with it."
In contrast, senior Crystal Harris believes that anonymity is best.
"I think (anonymous evaluations) are a good way for students to be honest in their opinion of their professors," said Harris. "It is always a good thing to have the ability to freely speak your mind."
Campbell knows that some students don't take them seriously or use the evaluations to complain.
"There have been people who rush through them so they can leave class early," said Campbell. "Others have problems with a teacher and give them the worst ratings and complain in the comment section, but that is rare."
Sophomore David Watters agrees with Campbell, but believes the presentation should be different.
"(The evaluations) could be done in a much better way," said Watters. "They are usually done at the end of the year and the end of class and people just want to leave."
These same issues have been studied for decades. However, all the studies have ambiguous findings.
Some studies state that evaluations are valuable, others say they have no value, and even others criticize schools that use them in the review process. Yet others report that utilizing them as part of the review process helps hold professors accountable.
Some studies show a gender/race bias when it comes to evaluating professors. Women and non-Caucasians are evaluated much harsher than white male professors are.
Even though the results are conflicting, the truth is that Guilford does use the evaluations, so here are the conclusions I've drawn:
Take the evaluations seriously.
Write as if your name is attached.
Don't use it as a personal attack.
Be honest, but fair.
The bottom-line - when we fill out those empty bubbles and empty spaces at the end of this semester, we need to make sure our comments have validity.
Consider the fact that we are talking about a real person who has a real stake in what we say and how we say it.
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