mirth@reed.UUCP (Ellen Chapin) (09/18/86)
Just when you thought the first lines were safe... Line-Eaters II!!!
Reed College has something called (prosaically) "The Student Evaluation of
Faculty," which is a set of short comments about the faculty and their teaching
ability/style -- moreover, there is a set of comments for each course they
teach. These comments are not profane or abusive; although printed anonymously,they may not be submitted that way. Each semester the president's office
distributes requests for comments, as well as computer forms to be filled out
in class, which latter reflect the effectiveness of the professor. Along with
the computer forms (do not fold, spindle, bend, etc, #2 pencil only:-)), there
is a sheet for addressing comments directly to the professor about what you
like/dislike in the course. S/he reads these later, and they do help.
Copies of the Evaluation are available in all dorms, the coffee shop, and
other random places around campus. I think it's nifty to page through them --
one positive comment even made me take a course I otherwise wouldn't have (the
verbal grapevine was negative about the prof, and it shouldn't have been,
'cause she was WONDERFUL). So it does have its uses....
No disclaimer 'cause I haven't
figured out .signature yet,
Ellen.
:wqrossj@dartvax.UUCP (Ross Jacobs) (09/20/86)
We here at Dartmouth have a similar, student-organized publication
called "The Course Guide", which is a relatively new appearance on the
campus. Data was gathered through the use of questionnaires filled out
after the final exam was taken. They rate (or, actually, summarize) the
professor, the workload, etc., in relation to "the average Dartmouth
course", and also give a two-or-three paragraph summary of the responses
of the students who just took the course the previous term. It can be
quite frank--e.g. (Speaking of a very popular blow-off course) "Most
students recommend going to the lectures, or reading the notes, but not
both." However, there are a lot of courses for which it has very little
or no information, and I'm sure many students probably wouldnt want to
be totally candid on their questionnaires.
-Ross
--
Disclaimer's bound for glory, disclaim...
Ross Jacobs rossj@DARTMOUTH.EDU -or-
Dartmouth College {ihnp4,decvax,linus}!dartvax!rossj
Hanover, NH chelsea@dartvax.UUCP (Karen Christenson) (09/21/86)
In article <2246@gitpyr.UUCP> scott@gitpyr.UUCP writes: > For that matter, how do other schools go about soliciting student feedback >on courses and instructors? We have standard course evaluation forms we fill >out periodicly and one department manages to give exit interviews to >graduating seniors. Are there more elaborate schemes at other schools? How >does student opinion figure into tenure decisions? > > - Scott Holt > ..akgua!gatech!gitpyr!scott At Dartmouth, instructors pass out course evaluation forms on the last day of class. There is a standard form done by the school, or they might use a departmental form. The forms are anonymous and the professor does not see them until after the grades are reported. They use a 1-5 rating scale on various aspects like lectures, readings, and homeworks. I'm sure the forms are used by the departments; I'm not sure where in the college bureaucracy they would go. Recently a student group has restarted the Student Course Guide, which fizzled out some years back. They've had one issue, but they're having staff problems. They ask professors to hand out the forms at the end of classes. The forms are similar to the college ones with a 1-5 rating scale, but the questions are a little different. They ask things like how much homework there was (not enough to too much) and how useful it was, whether the grading was harsh or easy, and if it required more or less work than the "average" course. I believe if a course was taught in different sections or in some way had more than one professor, each prof had a separate evaluation paragraph. I really like the idea of a student course guide, because it's done by students and is more likely to give other students the kind of information they want. Karen Christenson "Mostly harmless." ...!dartvax!chelsea Have an adequate day.
cheryl@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU (cheryl) (09/24/86)
In article <5160@dartvax.UUCP> rossj@dartvax.UUCP (Ross Jacobs) writes: > We here at Dartmouth have a similar, student-organized publication >called "The Course Guide", which is a relatively new appearance on the >campus. Data was gathered through the use of questionnaires filled out >after the final exam was taken. They rate (or, actually, summarize) the >professor, the workload, etc., in relation to "the average Dartmouth >course", and also give a two-or-three paragraph summary of the responses >of the students who just took the course the previous term. It can be >quite frank--e.g. (Speaking of a very popular blow-off course) "Most >students recommend going to the lectures, or reading the notes, but not >both." However, there are a lot of courses for which it has very little >or no information, and I'm sure many students probably wouldnt want to >be totally candid on their questionnaires. I know of cases where professors, knowing the kinds of things that would be asked on evaluations like these, would shy away from teaching a really rigorous, difficult course, or, in the case where several professors teach the same required course, would tend to make the course softer in order to pump up their ratings. They would also grade easy and (I kid you not) tell the class how well it was doing compared to other years, and how smart they were to be in this wonderful university, blah-de-blah-blah etc. Absolute crap. Cheryl
spw2562@ritcv.UUCP (09/24/86)
Here at RIT, each dept gives its own evaluations, sometime late
in the quarter (can't remember exactly when). The thing I've noticed
is that some depts don't use evaluations. It also seems that
the worse instuctors are the ones that don't get evaluated,
which really bothers me, because that generally means noone
in administration will get a really good idea of how poor
that particular instructor is.
No, I won't give out any names. 8-]
==============================================================================
Steve Wall @ Rochester Institute of Technology
UUCP: ..{allegra|seismo}!rochester!ritcv!spw2562 Unix 4.3 BSD
BITNET: SPW2562@RITVAXC VAX/VMS 4.4
Disclaimer: I said THAT?!? Naw, couldn't have been me...