So, let's talk about course evaluations. Fun topic, right?
For most of us, it's not all that fun, especially if your school uses these to
determine if you'll get more classes to teach or maybe even if you'll get a
raise. I've gotten both but not based on course evals. Some of my course evals
are just horrible and the comments from some students are downright nasty and
blatantly false. Hopefully most faculty supervisors know this but let's face
it, some don't.
In a nutshell, what happens is that the complainers and whiners fill out course evaluation forms and look at this as an opportunity to really get back at professors who "gave them bad grades." What they don't say is that the students don't do the work and that's why they got bad grades. The funny thing is that the students who send personal emails with wonderful comments don't usually complete course evaluations. They figure that since they emailed, there's no need to do the course eval. Even when I write back thanking them for the email and requesting that they include their comments on the course eval, most don't do that.
Students don't realize that our supervisors often base our continued employment on these course evaluations. So now I have a public and verifiable response to my school for all the nasty and false comments on those evals. I've been doing this for several years. I do this in pre-designed courses as well as in the courses I write and teach.
During the last week, I put up a public discussion board forum called Course Reflection. Then I invite students to tell me what they liked and did not like about the course and to include suggestions for making it better.
I rarely get suggestions these days because I've been doing this for a while and have implemented all the suggestions I used to get when I first started doing this. So my courses are better based on former students' suggestions. Occasionally someone will come up with a new idea but for the most part, they like the classes just fine the way they are currently designed. When I get suggestions for pre-designed classes, I explain that I cannot personally make those changes but that I will pass along the suggestions to the course developers.
This is an official and verifiable record of what students REALLY think of my class and of my teaching. It's right there in the course. I get emails from students all the time but I can't share these with my administrators. So this Course Reflection forum is the perfect way to prove that the majority of my students love my classes. A professor could falsify email comments but there's no way (okay there's always a way but not likely to happen) to do that on a public class forum. I do make copies of these to keep for my records in case a school archives a course and I can't access it any longer. AND supervisors have access to all archived courses and they can go read the comments.
A side note: It's amazing to me how a little anonymity can bring out the very worst in people. When I used to give professors poor evaluations I actually signed my name and requested the the person who read the course evaluations contact me. I actually had one professor contact me once. We had a very nice conversation.
So if you're a good professor who is receiving horrible course evaluations from your whiny slacker students and not enough good comments, consider using a public reflection forum at the end of your class session.
In a nutshell, what happens is that the complainers and whiners fill out course evaluation forms and look at this as an opportunity to really get back at professors who "gave them bad grades." What they don't say is that the students don't do the work and that's why they got bad grades. The funny thing is that the students who send personal emails with wonderful comments don't usually complete course evaluations. They figure that since they emailed, there's no need to do the course eval. Even when I write back thanking them for the email and requesting that they include their comments on the course eval, most don't do that.
Students don't realize that our supervisors often base our continued employment on these course evaluations. So now I have a public and verifiable response to my school for all the nasty and false comments on those evals. I've been doing this for several years. I do this in pre-designed courses as well as in the courses I write and teach.
During the last week, I put up a public discussion board forum called Course Reflection. Then I invite students to tell me what they liked and did not like about the course and to include suggestions for making it better.
I rarely get suggestions these days because I've been doing this for a while and have implemented all the suggestions I used to get when I first started doing this. So my courses are better based on former students' suggestions. Occasionally someone will come up with a new idea but for the most part, they like the classes just fine the way they are currently designed. When I get suggestions for pre-designed classes, I explain that I cannot personally make those changes but that I will pass along the suggestions to the course developers.
This is an official and verifiable record of what students REALLY think of my class and of my teaching. It's right there in the course. I get emails from students all the time but I can't share these with my administrators. So this Course Reflection forum is the perfect way to prove that the majority of my students love my classes. A professor could falsify email comments but there's no way (okay there's always a way but not likely to happen) to do that on a public class forum. I do make copies of these to keep for my records in case a school archives a course and I can't access it any longer. AND supervisors have access to all archived courses and they can go read the comments.
A side note: It's amazing to me how a little anonymity can bring out the very worst in people. When I used to give professors poor evaluations I actually signed my name and requested the the person who read the course evaluations contact me. I actually had one professor contact me once. We had a very nice conversation.
So if you're a good professor who is receiving horrible course evaluations from your whiny slacker students and not enough good comments, consider using a public reflection forum at the end of your class session.
Great article. Due to this stigma I place the below DQ in my classroom and make it a mandatory response. I then ask my director to review to see from the student's own words what they got out of the course and how one does not reflect the other as far as receiving a low score in student surveys. I have yet to have a student say negative comments but they are honest in their response. It also allows me to tweek where needed.
ReplyDeleteIn a minimum of 200 words, please tell me how this course has opened your eyes from personal prospective how you will utilize the Human Resource Course techniques and theories going forward in the workplace and personal perspective. Please be descriptive with HRM acronyms and what has helped you. You must also reply to a minimum of two other teammates to receive the full extra points.
I do something very similar. I also post a mid-term question in the course DQ asking what they liked best and least so far. In schools where I design my own classes, I've taken "votes" on ideas for activities in the second half of the course and will revise as needed as we go along. Students love that! They actually get a say in what they do to demonstrate mastery of the learning outcomes. Thanks so much for writing.
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