No certainly not, but the pragmatic or inertial effect of handing a form and a stubby pencil to everybody in a classroom is imo quite different from pointing them vaguely at yet another online satisfaction survey. (Plus those forms were fun. I mean, bubble
sheet? Cmon!)
I take it that the thread has run its productive course, but you did mention also the analysis that taking evals into account for merit increases etc. disadvantaged minority faculty. I have no reason to doubt that. And yet it hardly seems a reason that non-minority
faculty, like me, should no longer have to worry about evals. JDF
James Dougal Fleming
Professor, Department of English
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby/Vancouver,
British Columbia,
Canada.
The truth is an offence, but not a sin.
-- Bob Marley
From: Eugene McCann
Sent: December 5, 2023 7:29:43 AM
To: James Fleming
Cc: Faculty Forum Mail List
Subject: Re: Is it just me?!
They’ve never been mandatory even on paper though, right?
On Dec 4, 2023, at 10:25 PM, James Fleming <james_fleming@sfu.ca> wrote:
In my opinion and experience, the change to online and optional evaluations has gutted the instrument, by radically reducing response rates, yes. I am also very uncomfortable that we, faculty and institution, simultaneously and quietly, and as far as I know
without even telling our students, just stopped taking any notice of evals for TPC/merit purposes! JDF
From: Eugene McCann <emccann@sfu.ca>
Sent: December 4, 2023 9:05:04 PM
To: Faculty Forum Mail List
Subject: Is it just me?!
Dear colleagues,
Thought I’d use this forum to try to help me understand something going on in my classes and maybe yours too:
As of earlier today, only about 15% of students in one of my classes and 20% in another had filled in their Course Evaluations online. That means something like 12 responses have flooded in for two classes with a total of ~75 students. The rate is much
lower than when I used to do these on paper, in person.
I have announced the online evals on Canvas, in class, (even with a very clever Bernie Sanders-themed slide, if I do say so myself), and I’ve encouraged the students to do them in class during break.
So, is this a common experience? Has the shift to online evaluations reduced response rates significantly?
Does there need to be a rethink?
Or is it just me?
Best,
Eugene
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_______________________________________________________
Eugene McCann (he/him/his)
Professor, Geography
Associate Faculty, Sociology & Anthropology
Simon Fraser University
Managing Editor, EPC: Politics & Space
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/epc
Minor Revisions podcast
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/epc/collections/podcasts
Personal website: https://emccanngeog.wordpress.com
Contact information:
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University,
8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Email: emccann@sfu.ca; Phone: 778-782-3321
_______________________________________________________
Eugene McCann (he/him/his)
Professor, Geography
Associate Faculty, Sociology & Anthropology
Simon Fraser University
Managing Editor, EPC: Politics & Space
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/epc
Minor Revisions podcast
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/epc/collections/podcasts
Personal website: https://emccanngeog.wordpress.com
Contact information:
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University,
8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Email: emccann@sfu.ca; Phone: 778-782-3321
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