Grading Tied to Student Evaluations
I have taught, past tense, at universities where the student's evaluation of the instructor was a primary factor in that instructor gaining tenure and being offered a contract. I believe that student feedback is important for the instructor to grow and become a more effective and efficient instructor. However, not every student is going to agree with the outcome of a course and their grade. Hence the instructor receives a poor student evaluation and the chance exists for the lose of a faculty position. I do not believe this should be the case. What are your thoughts on this?
Kind Regards,
Lee
Student evals are part of our anual review. and they can do them after thier grade is posted. give a student a bad grade and get a bad review = no raise good system
I believe in alot of cases it is fools gold. If the student had fun its positive if not ,not it puts pressure to the instructor to back off for good evals and not do what is best for the student.
I like your thinking John. We've got to get feedback from our students so we can optimize our performance. At the same time, we should not be at the mercy of student evaluations. When we are, it can compromise the educational process.
Student Evals are a great tool for the Instructor to learn and grow but should not be used for raises,contracts etc.
These are great categories to consider Rocklan. Each is very important in teaching. However, there may be other categories that students identify as well. This makes student evaluations helpful at times.
I also have thoughts on the student evaluation, vs. the grade. I have found that my unprepared lecture and organization has been my responsability to be ON TIME, give students invdiviual FEEDBACK & TUTORING, a COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW, LISTEN to the students concerns, and most importantly be HONEST. When I have had a less then expected evaluation I will ask myself if I overlooked any of the above.
Interesting system Lee. It really puts the instructor at the mercy of the students and that dynamic can stand in the way of good teaching. Student evaluations are an important input to tenure, but so are evaluations from fellow faculty members and administrations. I recommend evaluation systems that are a bit more balanced and take multiple perspectives into account.
