expectations?
Although I understand the need for feedback from multiple sources, I also note that sometimes course developers (in my limited experience) really only look at objective feedback. It is easily quanitifiable and therefore preferred. Any ideas on how to ease them into the idea of more comprehensive evaluation?
Dr. Karina,
Can you expand on this. . .not sure it is clear. Thanks!
I think that we become a better teacher with best objective feedback when we growth in our individual development program and can teach every month.
Victoria and James,
Thanks for providing more comments for us to think about. You bring up a very good point. I have been my own course developer forever and feel like I have a better grasp on what I'm teaching and what I'm trying to get across to the students. If I am working with a course devleoper/instructional designer, it is imperative that we are all on the "same page" and know that we must both be involved. Thanks again.
James,
I think this is a great question as I feel the same. We cannot be too blindsided by quantitative data just because it is the easiest to gather and interpret. Course developers oftentimes rely heavily on quantitative data. I think the difficulty is that in a business sense, focus is only placed on those things that are overtly measurable. Qualitative data gives us a better insight into the effectiveness of a course. I think that the process should ALWAYS involve the educator. If the course developer and educator are not one in the same, they need to work together. This way the course developer can assume the role of the qualifier and the educator as the quantifier.
If the course developer is one in the same and is not considered the qualitative elements of an online course than I think you may have a bigger problem. It begs the question, why are they developing the course?
Marek,
You have a point. We need to listen to all the feedback we get. Thanks.
I would add sometimes we learn the most from the negative comments. It is my hunch that students are more likely to let us know when something does not work than when it does work.
Andrew,
Sure. I get good and bad reviews each semseter. Hopefully more good than bad. ;-) But, we have to take everything into consideration. Thanks!
I used to put the student's evaluation of the course very high in my mind because I always want to make sure they are the most satisfied. However after teaching for a few years and having students that I have gone out of my way to help still give negative feedback, allowed me to see that there are many other evaluations to pay attention to!
John,
Ah yes, those qualitative comments are very important. I always ask students how the course could be improved. That's essential. I want them to feel comfortable giving feedback.
In the feedback from students I pay more attention to any written comments as I do the quantitative numbers.
It provides me a glimpse of some feedback well beyond a form that most students just rush through.
Any thoughts?
Be safe.
John
Wells and James,
Good food for thought. Using the sample of students is a good idea. Thank you.
James, I agree. The school I work for doesn't conduct many computer based tests which allows little opportunity for easily quantified feedback or numbers.
Much of the evaluation and assessments of students learning are done through written research papers. One good way to eval this type of learning from a more quality focused perspective would be to pick a small sample of students and evaluate their improveement on the research papers over the entire course.
James,
You can do it yourself. You don't have to rely on course developers to do it.
