Bad Day in Black Rock

November 20, 2009
Teacher/Course Evaluations

It’s time again for the online evaluation by students of their courses. Dean Jeremy of SLA (School of Liberal Arts) says recently only 45% of SLA courses were rated. Maybe that’s because the evaluation, designed for generic, quantificational use, isn’t any good; maybe it’s because the students don’t think it makes any difference.

But it does. It figures in promotion and tenure decisions. I actually remember a case when a man up for promotion to professor got turned down because he wouldn’t administer the test, I mean the evaluation forms, excuse me (I believe it was the same one we use now). However when I was chair of Germanic and Slavic and was shepherding my first third-year review for the committee to examine, I was appalled to learn that the written comments on the back of the form don’t get any consideration by the P and T Committee. I was told not to include them, but to include only the statistical results. In very small classes, the statistical results will show exaggerated numbers -- 80% (of five people) thought the professor was average, so she gets a really damning number for that. (What did that other person think?) Or 100% loved him. That would mean something if there were one hundred students in the class; it would mean that she was so easy the course was a joke. Or that he was a great entertainer, or the best thing since Franco-American spaghetti. Now, the written commentaries would make that very precise indeed. More precise than numbers.

There is an independent student evaluation of professors which is available and is noted. All the best such evaluations are student-driven and student-made. I am of the opinion that our current questionnaire is jejune and inane. (I’m not sure how to pronounce “jejune” but that’s what it is.)

However, I say grimly, it is necessary that we have some form, any form. What if I were up for promotion and you didn’t fill this out? Huh? What then, eh? Pretty sad, huh? So I ask y’all to rate my class in good faith and without malice aforethought, and не поминайте лихом ‘don’t remember evil of me’. Honni soit qui mal y pense.

I joke. It is your decision. I will try to remember to set up some shell Blackboard course for 101 and 203 so that you can do this. On the other hand, I have a very low opinion of Blackboard; it is a blank-brained out-sourced piece of clunkware that can’t even be used for site-licensed courseware. It’s like our Friendly Help Desk, Only at Tulane, which is out-sourced to India. I kid you not.

You wouldn’t believe I volunteered to do the SACS materials for our department, would you? What’s SACS? Never mind, you don’t want to know.

No, no, I take all this back. Please do the forms. I will even set aside class time for it very soon. I’ll announce a day for you to bring you laptops, notebooks, Blackberries and other devices to class.

Really and sincerely,

gmc