Xref: utzoo comp.edu:2713 sci.edu:821 misc.misc:8649 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!pikes!udenva!isis!csm9a!fhadsell From: fhadsell@csm9a.UUCP ( GP) Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.edu,misc.misc Subject: Re: Are there still good teachers? Summary: hazards of teacher evaluation Keywords: survey Message-ID: <2049@csm9a.UUCP> Date: 29 Nov 89 11:51:31 GMT References: <1345@krafla.rhi.hi.is> <552@shuldig.Huji.Ac.IL> Organization: Colorado School of Mines Lines: 60 In article <552@shuldig.Huji.Ac.IL>, shaig@shum.Huji.AC.IL (Shai Guday) writes: > In article <1345@krafla.rhi.hi.is> bjarniar@rhi.hi.is (Bjarni Armannsson) writes > : > % In your department, are there elected any best teachers,best courses > % etc. And if so, by whom is it done? (The department itself, the > % students etc.) And (these simple questions are getting complicated!) > % are just part or all information of such surveys published? And if > % so where are they published? > > Our university holds a campus-wide survey at the end of each > semester. The findings of the survey are relayed to the different > departments as well as to the teachers. Currently, the top teachers and the > course that they gave for each depatrment are published. The students here > are trying to have the complete findings published, especially the > worst-rated teachers but the university is unwilling to do so. > > The public domain part of the surevy appears on all the department > billboards. The censored part of the sruvey appears as a computer printout > to the faculties, departments, and teachers, with each body receiving a > printout limited in scope to itself, i.e. no teacher necessarily knows the > ratings of the other teachers. The sole exception to this is the total > department rating which appears in all the printouts. > It is my impression that most US universities do something very much like the above. Here some 16 profs out of 200 have been removed or their position drastically changed on the basis of student evaluations. Our evaluation scheme has changed drastically over the last decade or so. First one of our student honoraries prepared the questionaires and administered the survey. Then we used forms from Kansas State then we used a sort of combination. This year we will use still a new system. Most faculty concede the need for student evaluation. The administration feels that such is the single most important parameter in faculty eval- uation, but in modern universities there are several other factors, including: Research Fund Raising Educational Innovation Publishing University Service Community Service Department Service In public universties, as the amount of money from the public decreases all of the above become more important. Professors with large research grants, that often pay much more than their own salaries, often are unable to teach as well as they know how. The arguments on faculty evaluation are myriad. It seems to be at the same time essential and impossible. Student evaluation should be formal, it is critically important, but is often missleading; e.g., Profs get tremendous ratings in one course and awful ratings in another. Good students often evaluate differently than the poorer students. It's a real zoo. -- INTERNET:: fhadsell@csm9a.colorado.edu BITNET:: fhadsell@mines Frank Hadsell, Prof. of Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401 (303) 273-3456 Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com