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Re: Uncl: course/instructor evaluations



I'm sure someone has said this before, but...

My concern with student evaluations is the "false positives". I'd guess
that an instructor who gets low marks from students is probably doing
something wrong, but I doubt that all instructors who get high marks
are doing everything right. Many of the students who fill out these
forms, especially in general education classes, have no idea what it
means to learn and understand something. They can take a physics
survey course that is entirely rote memorization, with nothing but
multiple-choice tests, and still rate the instructor very highly
because the lecture demonstrations are so entertaining. Yes, some
of these students might be motivated to learn more later on their own,
but many of them are not equipped with the basic skills they'll need
to do this. In a year, their attitude toward physics will be that
it's really cool stuff, but only geniuses like their professor are
capable of actually understanding it. Meanwhile, in another section
of the same course, a different instructor might do lots of hands-on
activities and really challenge students to think. Let's say that this
instructor gets equally high marks from students. Will the second
instructor be rewarded with tenure? Probably, but not necessarily,
because at my university the criteria for tenure have (at least in
other departments) been interpreted to mean that your student ratings
have to be *higher* than the average of those of your colleagues.
Well, I'm digressing here, but my point is that high students
evaluations are a necessary, but not sufficient, indication of
good teaching.

Dan Schroeder
dschroeder@cc.weber.edu