course evaluations

dear friends,

thank you for this discussion.

as true for many (all?), i love teaching.

i have found, for me, the best method for analysis of course material, relevancy, and impact (among other variables), is a basic question/theme for the students. at midterms we are asked:

'where am i now, in comparison to where i was at the first day of class, in terms of this subject (use cited material here as evidence please), and how does it impact my own self?'

we ask a similar question at the final:

'what do i know now, that i didn't know at the beginning of the term, and how does this live in my life and in my life goals?'

i am interested in student acquisition of tangible and demonstrable skills, personal growth, increased intellect, growing awareness in the subject material, and a personal sense of belonging to the people, beings, and subjects of interest (among others).

i find these discussion questions an excellent way to consider what has worked in the class, what can be made better, and it is always a tremendous insight into the lives, dreams, and goals of my students.

true, this does not perhaps give a vehicle for outsiders looking in to measure what i am and what i do, but it does improve my teaching and my relationships with students and the subject materials. it is a way to further see and hear students and to encourage further attainment of skills.

thank you, good luck in marking and finals.

annie

dr. annie g. ross
Professor. Department of Indigenous Studies
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Dr., Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6
T: 778.782.3575
www.anniegrace.ca

Love and thanks to all Wild, Sacred, and Good. I especially acknowledge that i live, learn, work with and benefit from the unceded, ancestral, and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh, Kwikwitlem, and Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw First Peoples' HomeLands.

From: Eugene McCann <emccann@sfu.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, December 6, 2023 11:08 AM
To: Faculty Forum Mail List
Subject: Re: Is it just me?!

Sorry for being slow to respond the the emails that came yesterday on this topic. It was a busy last day of teaching … working hard to get my Student Survey response rate up to a dizzying 33%.

Thanks to those of you replied on-list and off. Good to have a forum that allows us to engage with multiple differing opinions!

Here’s a rough summary:

What’s up with students?

—They’re smart enough to evaluate the request and decide whether it seems worth their time. Many seem to have decided that the surveys don’t matter / have no impact

—They, like most of us, suffer from Consumer Survey Burnout and they are resisting.

—They are turned off by what they see as meaningless and oddly worded questions, setting them impossible tasks like ‘describing how the class has enhanced their learning’ (a quote from an undergrad I was talking to.)

—Being asked to do them on paper in class just encouraged more students to do them relative to online (even with time set aside in class)

—Generalized post-pandemic disengagement

What other things do faculty think?

—An agreement that these surveys shouldn’t be constructed or used in ways detrimental to BIPoC, Trans, Women and other marginalized colleagues.

—These new surveys speak to a fetishization of numbers and metrics as management tools in the institution

—They’re unreliable as gauges of opinion.

Solutions?

—People do their own paper surveys, mid-term and at the end. These can be as simple as “What’s good, What’s not?’ and can be anonymous (I often do these but should be more systematic about it.)

—Others are a bit more sophisticated, doing strengths assessments, ePortfolios, and other reflections, not all of which are/can be anonymous

— These solutions don’t do much to help depts and other units generate info they may need.

—More generally, this discussion suggests that those who responded are interested in and take seriously student feedback and engagement in co-creating their learning. But we are not convinced that these surveys get us (or the students) what we need.

Best,

Eugene

On Dec 5, 2023, at 7:22 AM, Eugene McCann <emccann@sfu.ca> wrote:

Thanks to all of you who have replied so far (some direct to me as well as others on here). There’s an obvious correlation between the switch to online and the general significant decline in feedback. Hard not to see that as causation …

Someone who replied directly to me also hypothesized that part of the issue is that students have figured out the surveys seem to be less relevant than they used to be to profs careers etc. So why would they bother, the person asks?

An excellent undergrad who I happened to be talking to last week was also complaining the questions seem odd and oddly-written (they were talking about dept and univ. level ones as I understood it.). In this case, I explained the shift away from ‘evaluate the quality of the course/instructor questions as a result of a realization that students couldn’t necessarily judge quality and that evidence shows that those sorts of questions lead to women, BIPOC, Trans faculty, etc. getting lower evaluations. We agreed this was a good shift … but they maintained the new questions are weird!

Another undergrad, argued that the only way anything changes is when students complain in an extraordinary way about a specific issue/incident and/or the media picks up on something.

That’s about extreme cases though. I always say to them that these are mainly for me: I read them, I especially appreciate written comments, and if I see the same concern recurring I try to adjust the class for the future. Apparently this has little impact.

Another theory of mine is that these Surveys, in their online form, have melded into the exhausting welter of satisfaction surveys we all get every time we buy a product or service ("Rate your satisfaction with the toothpaste you just bought from Shoppers!"). I never (I assume most people don’t) complete those. Maybe students, as citizens, consumers, are just sick to death of being surveyed (esp. if they don’t see any concrete outcomes). I don’t know ...

As for incentivizing responses with with bonus points (why not chocolate bars?!), as another off-list respondent was advised to do: No. I’m not doing that. Unbelievable.

Thanks again for the responses. Happy to see more experiences/theories sent to this list. It’s a great forum for discussion of various perspectives on important issues!

Best,

Eugene

On Dec 4, 2023, at 9:05 PM, Eugene McCann <emccann@sfu.ca> wrote:

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

_______________________________________________________
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