What is the point of course evaluations? Well, when students and professors really care about education and educating, course evaluations can be very helpful.
The most obvious advantage is identifying elements of a course to keep, jettison or improve upon. As importantly, course evaluations are an opportunity for students and professors to dialogue about the meaning and significance of education. Course evaluations can help a department or program monitor its quality, and identify areas needing collective improvement. Sometimes evaluations are a flag that alerts the community to a professor in personal difficulty, making it possible to intervene in helpful and respectful ways.
Speaking for myself, I take course evaluations very seriously. I use student comments to triangulate on improvements to syllabi, lectures, discussions, assignments and tests. As a matter of best practice, I do this in every course each and every year. I also seek a range of quantitative and qualitative data that is germane to each course.
I gently suggest that before students complete an evaluation, they dig out the syllabus to remind themselves of the course’s intentions and content. This helps them write as specific and relevant feedback as possible.
I am especially interested in students thoughts on the following.
* The order of topics and readings (e.g. Should the readings I assign on ethics come before or after those I assign on public policy?)
* The time devoted to particular topics and readings (e.g. Would you like more time reading a particular author, or a particular subject?)
* Additional topics and readings (e.g. What other topics and/or readings would you like to have incorporated into the course?)
* The integration of courses (e.g. If you’ve taken several of my courses, does this courses inform and clarify other courses I teach? Is there a web of knowledge that is emerging?)
* The integration of program (e.g. What are you thoughts on how this course informs other courses in the program?)
When my students fill out course evaluations completely and seriously, it is of substantial help to me and to future students. So a big thank you to those who take the time to do so!
If course evaluations can be so helpful, why then are many faculty and students cynical about them? To understand why, some straight talk about academic politics is in order.
There are many studies on course evaluations. They tend to show a strong correlation between a student’s evaluation’s of a course or professor, and their anticipated grade irrespective of the effort they put forth in the course. This situation is exacerbated by the increasing commodification of education. When higher education is approached as a commodity to be bought, it minimizes student’s participation in their own learning, and detracts from education as an apprenticeship to knowledge, a prerequisite for informed citizenship, and a forge of character.
Administrators frequently talk-up evaluations as a mechanism of quality control exemplifying an institution’s undying commitment to teaching. A rather odd claim given that there are few rewards in many of these same institutions for teaching well. The reality is that many professors are evaluated primarily (often solely) in terms of the scholarship they produce. If they take time away from producing the next research article to teach or advise well, they pay a price in job security or compensation.
For example, I know of one institution where all professors were ranked according to their teaching quality. This was determined by an absurdly short and irrelevant questionnaire in what amounted to a popularity contest. Unfortunately, it had dire results — the lowest ranking professors were fired. Not surprisingly, this approach drove down the quality of teaching. Students figured this out rather quickly, and would punish faculty for hard courses or low grades. And you can imagine what other professors thought when it came time to assign challenging reading, assignments or tests in their courses.
There are also many institutions where teaching is prized. In my own experience, Green Mountain College, Vassar College and Williams College stand out in this respect. These institutions have excellent faculty, along with administrators and institutional incentives that support one’s teaching effort. In a similar vein, my students have been great — striving for their personal best and excelling in the face of rigourous demands. Its no exaggeration to say I have been fortunate to work with great colleagues and students.
What then is the take-home message? I think the task for faculty and students is to approach course evaluations with mutual respect and responsibility. An open mind on the part of faculty, and fair contributions on the part of students, can take us a long way together.
Cheers, Bill
