Thursday, August 18, 2011

Reading student evaluations

How we read and respond to student evaluations of our teaching is an interesting question?
Here are a few preliminary thoughts on what we should and should not do.
We should
  • read them all very carefully
  • be willing to change how and what we teach
  • take particular notice of comments (both positive and negative) that are repeated e.g., if 30 per cent of students say the textbook is terrible then we need to change it...
  • realise that sometimes students comments may actually be more about them and their expectations than about your teaching
We should not
  • make it our goal to keep everyone happy. the goal is to teach not to be popular.
  • give particular credence to comments of just one or two students.
  • take the comments (both positive and negative) too personally.
Any other thoughts?

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