Student Evaluations and self delusion...
What is the rule of thumb for taking student evaluations to heart? I generally get a few great comments and a few awful comments. I try to take both with a grain of salt... It seems to me, most of the time that the students with the great comments did well in the course and the students that didn't do well felt obliged to blame the instructor...
I'm constantly amazed at the ability of humans to convince themselves of ________ (fill in the blank). How can an instructor keep from convincing himself (or herself) that he's doing a great job when he really isn't? I'm not so worried about the converse, it seems to me that that particular scenario would take care of itself.
Hi Chad,
I agree that it is hard to maintain your perspective when reading student evaluations. Most of us teach because we love sharing our knowledge with our students. I personally find it hard to hear that a student feels I didn't succeed.
As you rightly observed, when most of the responses are very positive, a negative one is often a student looking to transfer responsibility from themselves to the teacher. Sometimes a student is stressed and frustrated and this is a way to vent. Occasionally it is just that your style of delivery didn't resonate with that particular student.
It can seem quite arbitrary and start to feel like a popularity contest. I counteract that by viewing student evaluations as a tool that can make me aware when of what is and isn't working in my teaching style. I think the key is in the number of times a comment is repeated, both positive and negative.
When a positive comment reoccurs. it confirms to me that I'm presenting the topic clearly. If a negative comment is repeated by a number of students over a couple of semesters, I realize that is something I need to improve. It gives me a chance to step outside myself, see the class from the student's perspective and change the things that are not working.
Annette
Gary:
Thanks for that bit of feedback on this technique. It has worked well so far, and I hope I can continue to preemptively tailor my delivery to avoid the need for that hand to go up.
Jared
Hi Jared,
Good points about how to get accurate feedback and input from students. I like the way you are using one of your students as a guide to formatting your content. Once her hand goes up you know you need to redirect your terminology. This is a simple way to keep from completely missing your students for that class session. Keep up the good work.
Gary
Gary:
I would tend to agree with all of the points you made about the validity of evaluations. I have been lucky enough to get pretty decent evaluations thus far, but I really prefer to get my data from frank conversations with my students. I try to really pry out of them what things I might do better to help them learn.
For example, I know my grasp of the technical aspects of the field I am teaching is very broad and deep. I can very easily starting talking right over the heads of people if I am not careful. I had a student tell me that was the case with her, so I suggested she raise her hand anytime that happens so I can slow down or reiterate the information I just presented. She has done just that since our conversation on more than one occasion.
I think if the student honestly believes you care about his or her success, evals will tend to be a vaguely accurate representation of what they think.
Jared
Hi Chad,
I don't put much stock in end of the course evaluations for a variety of reasons. The main one being that the evaluation is administered when the students are under a lot of pressure to complete the course projects, take a final and have forgotten much of what went on in the course.
I get feedback from students after exams, and projects throughout the course this way the feedback is targeted and much more accurate. The students are more candid as well because they can see how their input is going to improve or be supportive of the project/exam that has just been completed.
Gary
