Comments on: Class Evaluations http://laree80774.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/class-evaluations/ Just another WordPress.com weblog Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:30:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: Gina http://laree80774.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/class-evaluations/#comment-23 Gina Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:55:40 +0000 http://laree80774.wordpress.com/?p=17#comment-23 Wise thoughts, Lauren. Many people who study education advocate the sort of feedback you advise: dynamic, taking place throughout the semester. At the same time, I think your view is, in some regards, cynical, and I"m sorry if anyone you've encountered has led you to that view. Conscientious instructors care about whether they are reaching not just the "average" student, but each student. As such, they read their evaluations seriously. I can guarantee you that there is not one full-time instructor in English Composition, whose evaluations I see (and whose teaching I also evaluate), who does not agonize over bad evaluations--even if only from a couple students--and attempt to take legitimate (constructive) criticism and make changes based upon it.<b></b> A couple issues: To assume that a bad grade given a student is a result of bad teaching is, I think, faulty logic. Sometimes that's the case, and sometimes not. (A good grade is not always a result of good teaching, either.) Also, to assume that commenting on a class is a waste of time assumes that there is no collective gain. Even in the worst case scenario, the fact is that if a teacher is really awful and you give that teacher a negative evaluation and that teacher doesn't bother to change: then, at least, you've done your fellow students a favor by warning them off a bad teacher, have you not? Wise thoughts, Lauren. Many people who study education advocate the sort of feedback you advise: dynamic, taking place throughout the semester. At the same time, I think your view is, in some regards, cynical, and I”m sorry if anyone you’ve encountered has led you to that view. Conscientious instructors care about whether they are reaching not just the “average” student, but each student. As such, they read their evaluations seriously. I can guarantee you that there is not one full-time instructor in English Composition, whose evaluations I see (and whose teaching I also evaluate), who does not agonize over bad evaluations–even if only from a couple students–and attempt to take legitimate (constructive) criticism and make changes based upon it.

A couple issues: To assume that a bad grade given a student is a result of bad teaching is, I think, faulty logic. Sometimes that’s the case, and sometimes not. (A good grade is not always a result of good teaching, either.) Also, to assume that commenting on a class is a waste of time assumes that there is no collective gain. Even in the worst case scenario, the fact is that if a teacher is really awful and you give that teacher a negative evaluation and that teacher doesn’t bother to change: then, at least, you’ve done your fellow students a favor by warning them off a bad teacher, have you not?

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