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From: mac@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Myron A. Calhoun)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.edu,misc.misc
Subject: Re: Are there still good teachers?
Message-ID: <5166@deimos.cis.ksu.edu>
Date: 6 Dec 89 14:55:44 GMT
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In article <18994@watdragon.waterloo.edu> gvreugdenhil@violet.waterloo.edu (Gord V...) writes:
                  [many lines deleted]
>Unfortunately, universities do not usually consider teaching as part of
>the weighting for tenure.  Research is far more important in gaining
>tenure than is teaching quality.  This attitude creates a disincentive
>for good teaching - good teaching takes time and effort and is not rewarded,
>so most profs prefer to spend the time in research.  Teaching is the
>"necessary evil" of being a prof.

Many years ago when my Department experimented with LARGE class sizes
as a response to ever-increasing enrollments and same-size faculty,
another Professor and I taught different sections of the same course.
This is Kansas State University (mentioned in an earlier posting),
and as a matter of Department policy our courses were both evaluated
using the official questionaires.  Somehow the other Prof. had been able
to MOTIVATE his 200 students more than I had been able to motivate mine.
(How do we know this?  The questionaire had a question:  "Were you
motivated in this course?", and the average response by his students was
higher than the average from my students.)  But the average response for
all other questions was statistically the same.

The net result was that I received a HIGHER rating than he did!  Why?
Because (according to the official interpretation of the evaluation),
if his more-motivated students didn't give higher "votes" in the other
questions, he must have been the poorer teacher!  Personally, even
though I "won", I think "student evaluation of instruction" sucks!

I have learned other ways to influence the ratings:  for instance, give
an EASY pop-quiz the class period BEFORE the rating, give high scores
when grading, and return the papers just before the course evaluation
is made.  Happy students give higher evaluations.

My best results came when I (inadvertently) scheduled the evaluation
on the same day as a university-wide convocation (which most students
do NOT attend anyway).  When I learned of the conflict, I told my
students they were free to attend the convocation, but for those who
wished to come to "class" I would hold a "help session" that day.  The
poorer students skipped the class (and the convocation, I'm sure), but
the better students came.  Better students give better evaluations,
and again I came out smelling like a rose, so to speak!

Not that I would ever consider manipulating evaluations, of course,
but I consistently rank high in the evaluation game.  :-)

I think the BEST student evaluation comes about five years after the
student has graduated, when s/he has had a chance to realize that I
really tried to teach her/him to the best of my ability.  I have 
received a few letters of that sort, and the glow they produce in me
is one of the major rewards I have in teaching.
--Myron.
--
Myron A. Calhoun, PhD EE, W0PBV, (913) 532-6350 (work), 539-4448 (home).
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