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does anyone know anything about student assessments of their lecturers?

6 replies

hatwoman · 26/01/2008 19:09

or know where i can find out more? is there a lecturersnet?

I just had mine returned after my first term lecturing and I'd like a bit of advice as to how to read them and how they might compare to the norm. whatever that is.

I have no idea whether to be pleased or gutted...

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andiemustlosehalfastonemore · 26/01/2008 19:11

hatwoman we do this at work as well as peer assessment of teaching
imo you need to take them with a bit of salt as with any evaluation there are numerous factors that can affect a student's view of things
as a head of depart I use them along with peer review course evaluations etc to help identify with the lecturer any areas that need developing they are never used as a stick to beat anyone with but just part of a jigswa

hatwoman · 26/01/2008 19:17

well that's nice to know. it's hard - very hard - to read shite ones though. one person said I was one of the best lecturers she had ever had; another said I was fantastic. one said - basically - I was shite . which all seems a bit strange seeing as they were, as far as I know, in the same lectures. I just don't know what I should have expected of myself. it was my first term ever lecturing and I got k'all in the way of guidance. and I really mean k'all. but part of me thinks that even if I can improve I'm not cut out to read horrid things about myself...

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andiemustlosehalfastonemore · 26/01/2008 19:19

hatwoman I know exactly what you mean some students write horrid things but take heart from the really nice ones I just think you can't please everyone and they all have different learning styles so they all come at it from a different perspective

hatwoman · 27/01/2008 09:00

.

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 28/01/2008 17:22

This is totally normal Hatwoman - your first ever student crits will be weak because you had to prepare without much support and were probably pushed for time. Then the next time you do it they will be better, because your teaching will have improved objectively and because you will have worked out what it is that your particular group of students like and don't like.

My first ones were so bad that our lovely office administrator hid them until I had finished all my teaching for that term, so I wouldn't be put off. Then fortunately the next ones I got were much, much better.

If there are any that are really unkind and not constructive, then that says more about the students who wrote them than about you, because they all know they should phrase them in a way that helps you improve, so you don't need to take them too seriously. Take note of any that say something specific enough to give you something to work on. It is a good idea to sort out the good ones and maybe go through and copy out all the nice things that have been said about you, because you might want to quote from them in job applications in the future.

You will also want to have a general picture of how you're doing so you can track your improvement, so it's a good idea to count them up and work out your average score, but it's really just to help you - it's very difficult to make meaningful comparisons with other lecturers, because you are all teaching different material, some of which students like more, and at different times in the course (earlier lectures tend to get more extreme grades). There was also some research reported by the THES a few years back which demonstrated that students tend to rate lecturers higher if they are of a similar age/sex/race to them . And of course there is the issue of questionnaire design and how that affects results.

Quite frankly though, if you have got some that say you are fantastic you are probably doing very very well and don't have too much to worry about.

hatwoman · 05/02/2008 20:52

hello kathy - I've been away for a few days and haven't been on line - thanks so much for your message - it makes me feel much better. I did quite some analysis of the forms (I only had 11 so it was quite easy) - worked out my average scores, sorted the comments into good/average/awful and on balance I think I did do ok. iirc I had 4 really good comments, 4 average ones, and 3 pretty bad. it's the bad ones that stick in your mind though isn;t it?! (the worst was the one that suggested they ask one of my guest lecturers (ie someone I had idientified as an interesting lecturer, someone I knew, and had invited etc) to do the whole course. ouch!) They were, on the whole, constructive and they have given me ideas on how to improve. even one of the bad ones said something like "I think she is new and will improve".

It's very tough but at least I had some good ones - and you've made me feel that I don;t need to throw the towel in...thanks lots!

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