It seems to me that there's an unexamined and most likely fallacious assumption underlying this article: that "official evaluations of professors’ teaching" are "accurate." The author does acknowledge some potential problems with official evaluations later in the article -- most notably the possible connection between higher grades/easiness and higher evaluation scores -- but never really addresses the subject.
Also -- in most of the places I've attended or taught, both private and public, it's been standard practice to release the numbers from student evaluations to the university community at large, including the students. But the author suggests that this would be an innovation. Are the schools with which I'm familiar unusual in doing this (and, as far a I know, having done it for at least several decades)?
wombat=flake I scrolled through and there wasn't a graph to pull me in, so I couldn't muster the energy to... I mean I learn differently, so it was too hard to understand without a visual summary.
Has anyone ever responded to a student comment on RYP? Just curious. Part of me thinks it would be fun and hilarious to give my side of each event ("Yo she flunked me for plagiarism and dint even tell me why!" Um, yeah dumbass, you were too lazy to download the commented-upon and thoroughly annotated version of "your" essay that I put in your drop box. I had fun finding all of the places from which you stole big chunks of text.) But part of me knows it's getting in the ring with idiots, and I'd probably get fired for it.
I do know a few people who used to post their own reviews of their classes to counterbalance the ones by disaffected losers. But that was years ago, when anyone was still paying attention to RYS. I don't know anyone who even looks at it now.
Merely Academic said "But that was years ago, when anyone was still paying attention to RYS. I don't know anyone who even looks at it now."
Well, of course they don't, because now it's College misery. :)
Of course, you meant RMP. And I think you're right that not many people look at it anymore. At my campus, there are a few professors who get a lot of reviews, but even in those cases, the vast majority of entries are at least two or three years old.
I taught 135 students last semester, and had exactly one new rating added to my RMP score. And that student, whoever it was, couldn't even get the course number right.
Lazy reporting includes flawed correlations and typos. *shaking my head*
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that there's an unexamined and most likely fallacious assumption underlying this article: that "official evaluations of professors’ teaching" are "accurate." The author does acknowledge some potential problems with official evaluations later in the article -- most notably the possible connection between higher grades/easiness and higher evaluation scores -- but never really addresses the subject.
ReplyDeleteAlso -- in most of the places I've attended or taught, both private and public, it's been standard practice to release the numbers from student evaluations to the university community at large, including the students. But the author suggests that this would be an innovation. Are the schools with which I'm familiar unusual in doing this (and, as far a I know, having done it for at least several decades)?
wombat=flake
ReplyDeleteI scrolled through and there wasn't a graph to pull me in, so I couldn't muster the energy to... I mean I learn differently, so it was too hard to understand without a visual summary.
Has anyone ever responded to a student comment on RYP? Just curious. Part of me thinks it would be fun and hilarious to give my side of each event ("Yo she flunked me for plagiarism and dint even tell me why!" Um, yeah dumbass, you were too lazy to download the commented-upon and thoroughly annotated version of "your" essay that I put in your drop box. I had fun finding all of the places from which you stole big chunks of text.)
ReplyDeleteBut part of me knows it's getting in the ring with idiots, and I'd probably get fired for it.
I do know a few people who used to post their own reviews of their classes to counterbalance the ones by disaffected losers. But that was years ago, when anyone was still paying attention to RYS. I don't know anyone who even looks at it now.
ReplyDeleteMerely Academic said "But that was years ago, when anyone was still paying attention to RYS. I don't know anyone who even looks at it now."
ReplyDeleteWell, of course they don't, because now it's College misery. :)
Of course, you meant RMP. And I think you're right that not many people look at it anymore. At my campus, there are a few professors who get a lot of reviews, but even in those cases, the vast majority of entries are at least two or three years old.
I taught 135 students last semester, and had exactly one new rating added to my RMP score. And that student, whoever it was, couldn't even get the course number right.
In 2007-2008, I received more than 50 ratings. In the past three years, 2. Not that I'm counting.
ReplyDeleteI'm still astonished that the fake rating we created for the supposed RYS moderator (Martin Bell) in 2006 is still up!
ReplyDeleteThe resultant April Fool's Day joke of 2007 was the original link to it.