Just Pondering: Formal Evaluation of Faculty by Students.

Students in higher institution of learning are generally not forth coming in sharing challenges they encounter in a course with the instructor. These students go with the flow of the instruction complying with course expectations even when challenged in various ways. They hang onto their egos and based on my experience resist overt attempts by faculty to draw out their ongoing perspectives about the course that would enhance the teaching and learning. I have concluded that these students simply want to be identified as “good students” or are horrified of being perceived as not intelligent enough especially in an institution that prides itself of incoming students with average GPA in the upper 3.0. Faculty must therefore be intentional in obtaining authentic information on challenges that students experience in their course towards improvement for effective instruction and successful learning.

I quickly discovered in a hard way during my first year of teaching, nine years ago, that simply asking students if everything is okay with respect to the format and instruction of a course is not enough. My students generally engaged in discussions during instruction, completed all assignments, and earned good grades. I could never ask for more excellence in students. I believed they were enjoying the course and thus continued to implement the same strategies and even challenged them more. After all, they were earning good grades. I was not only surprised but also angry at the feedback from students through the end of semester anonymous formal evaluation of the course. I cringed, choked, and felt betrayed by my students. How could they say such negative things about the course when throughout the semester they completed assignments religiously and continued to state that all was fine? Was I not good enough? Was I simply an imposter? I questioned my qualification and felt very disappointed in me. I mustered courage and shared my disappointment in the students’ evaluation with the dean, head of program and colleagues who, thank goodness, were supportive and encouraged me not to be discouraged by students’ feedback. The support and encouragement motivated me to reflect more on the students’ comments and feedback about my course.

As an assessment educator, I realized how I had failed to acknowledge the essence of students’ feedback. I was expecting all the glory from students about my course and performance as an instructor, which I did not get. I failed to perceive feedback as a tool to enhance my art in teaching- a developmental skill. It is very easy for complacency to kick in for someone who considers herself an expert or after an extensive experience in teaching and forgets that growth and development are the key for proficiency. So, what went wrong? I was constantly checking in with my students on their perspectives on the course format, instruction and their learning, which were generally positive. Their responses in class suggested that there was nothing to modify or change in the course, which was contrary to their comments on the end-of-semester course evaluation form. This discontinuity in students’ perspectives about a course in the weekly encounter with faculty and in the formal anonymous end of semester evaluation should be a cause for concern to faculty dedicated in academic excellence.

I am particularly interested in how to elicit authentic feedback from students during the course of semester that will enhance ongoing teaching and learning and not wait until the end of the semester when ‘the harm’ would have been done. There is no better teacher than experience but academic excellence requires faculty to respond at the spur of the moment. Faculty should thus be intentional in pulling out students’ perspectives in an ongoing effort if they are serious in engaging in teaching excellence. It is even scarier in a teacher education program where the minimal expectation for faculty is to be knowledgeable and effective in implementing teaching pedagogies that embody academic excellence to model for student teachers.

The extant literature is replete with reflections that condemn the authenticity of students’ formal evaluation of faculty. I differ with this position based on my personal experience with students’ evaluation of my teaching. I strongly believe that faculty formal evaluation by students, whether positive or negative, provides information that faculty can use in assessing and modifying the course and instruction. I am aware of and have experienced negative comments by students through formal evaluation that smell like racism. Even such evaluations with racial attributes present feedback that can guide faculty on how to approach students and their courses to enhance teaching and learning. It is crucial that faculty let go their ego even when they do not agree with students’ feedback and with an open mind thoughtfully reflect on the evaluation to capture students’ perspectives.

Students’ feedback that challenge my pedagogy have motivated me to explore alternate strategies and needless to say the outcome has been positive, which has convinced me on the essence of students’ formal evaluation of faculty teaching as an effective way to enhance teaching and learning. However, it is crucial to determine students’ perspectives and make accommodations during the semester to enhance teaching and learning and not wait until the end of the semester for students’ formal evaluation when it is too late as the ‘damage’ would have been done for those students. Stay tuned to read on how I have been successful in pulling out students’ perspectives on an ongoing basis to guide ongoing modification and instruction towards enhanced teaching and learning.