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> a well designed evaluation instrument along with critical interpretation of the results and comments can be an invaluable tool for instructors who want to imp

> a well designed evaluation instrument along with critical interpretation of the results and comments can be an invaluable tool for instructors who want to improve their teaching. An instructor who actually wants to improve their teaching solicits and engages with feedback from the very first day of the term and doesn't wait until end of term evaluations roll in. Why? Because end of term evaluations, by definition, cannot help the students who wrote them.

newen 8y ago
That's not easy at all. Instructors design their course typically before the first class starts. Trying to incorporate suggestions from students -- students who have no experience teaching -- is just going to lead to disaster.
- BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
  Feedback isn't for suggestions, it's for understanding problems that your students are having. If you aren't normalizing the process of students telling you when they are struggling, then they either won't tell you when they're struggling at all or you'll only find out too late. It could be pedagogical stuff like they don't understand your explanations, or it could be emotional things like they're having panic attacks and don't know what to do, or it could be simple technical details like what fonts you use on your slides. And if you know right away then you can do something right away and actually help someone.
afarrell 8y ago
nitpick: An instructor may genuinely want to improve their teaching but may only think to solicit feedback until the end of term or may default to end-of-term evals because they do not have a go-to system for soliciting feedback iteratively. (Unless you define "want" as "what the behavior of this system would lead to" and thereby pretend that no human act is an error)
- BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
  You're right that they may want to do something without knowing where to start. I amend my "will do" into "should do" with the caveat that perhaps a person who doesn't know this shouldn't be teaching yet.

newen 8y ago

That's not easy at all. Instructors design their course typically before the first class starts. Trying to incorporate suggestions from students -- students who have no experience teaching -- is just going to lead to disaster.

BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
Feedback isn't for suggestions, it's for understanding problems that your students are having. If you aren't normalizing the process of students telling you when they are struggling, then they either won't tell you when they're struggling at all or you'll only find out too late. It could be pedagogical stuff like they don't understand your explanations, or it could be emotional things like they're having panic attacks and don't know what to do, or it could be simple technical details like what fonts you use on your slides. And if you know right away then you can do something right away and actually help someone.

afarrell 8y ago

nitpick: An instructor may genuinely want to improve their teaching but may only think to solicit feedback until the end of term or may default to end-of-term evals because they do not have a go-to system for soliciting feedback iteratively. (Unless you define "want" as "what the behavior of this system would lead to" and thereby pretend that no human act is an error)

BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
You're right that they may want to do something without knowing where to start. I amend my "will do" into "should do" with the caveat that perhaps a person who doesn't know this shouldn't be teaching yet.