This was an interesting read on another group. I snipped it for you all to read
if you are so inclined.


snip
Yea, "Student reports of teaching effectiveness." *It's very
instructive to observe universities use a tool that studies repeatedly
demonstrate doesn't measure teaching effectiveness but instead
measures the opposite, i.e., everything else held constant,
instructors who are "easy A's" get higher ratings of teaching
effectiveness than those who expect students to learn something.

Since these ratings are used to determine who is fired, they create a

You are ****TING me! I believe they are only a feel-good mechanism for the
students where I was... something that gave them the impression "we care".

Oh no, they're used as the PRIMARY and frequently ONLY measure of
teaching quality. Students know this and will threaten lecturers and
(untenured) professors with poor reviews unless they get their way.
Lectures, if they're to survive, learn quickly it's more important to
minimize student complaints than uphold standards. They're also used
in other ways...

Let me give you an example. A few years ago, as I normally do, I gave
failing grades to students who didn't bother learning the course
material. The students challenged the grades. The Grade Appeals
Boards upheld my grades. The university provost changed two of the
students' grades to "pass" so they could graduate.

It didn't end there. Since the students were MBA students and the MBA
program was the dean's "flagship" program, she selected specific
student evaluations and sent them to the university affirmative action
officer saying I'd been accused of discrimination (I hadn't).

In spite of no student ever accusing me of discrimination, the AA
officer found me guilty of discrimination for the sole reason all the
students who received failing grades in that one class were either
female, asian or hispanic. The AA officer sat there and agreed he had
not found one thing I did or didn't do that was discriminatory in any
way, but he was throwing me under the bus because the statistics of
that one class showed I'd given failing grades to females, asians and
hispanics in greater proportion than their proportion to the whole
class, i.e., 100% of the students in that one class receiving failing
grades were female, or asian, or hispanic but females, asians and
hispanics did not make up 100% of the class.

I see value in capturing student opinion to discover more about your
teaching style,

I see very little value in them. For example, I give ~125-page
packets of handouts to each student to minimize note-taking, maximize
engagement in the lectures, help them learn tough material, summarize
key concepts, etc. We use these handouts every class session, yet
maybe 1 in 20 (or 50) mention them - and sometimes the comments are
what a burden it is to keep track of the course handouts. On the
other hand, about half complain I assign too much homework, and, of
the comments written, easily half are derogatory, like the comments I
posted earlier in this thread.

It's gotten so bad I don't read the comments anymore. It breaks my
heart to put so much of myself into trying to help them get ready for
their careers onto to get kicked in the head.

One last thing, Fall '08, first week of class, I had a student who
insisted on using his/her laptop in class even though it's prohibited
in my syllabus. Because he/she had a documented disability, he/she
could file a disability complaint against me through the AA officer.
That complaint was not resolved until August 2009 (in the end, I was
found to not have done anything wrong). I suspect the stress of that
complaint, on top of all the other baloney, contributed to my current
"chronic fatigue" condition which is ending my career as a professor.

Joe

/snip

It's a real shame what this "political correctness" has done to our education
system. Having a daughter in High School is a real chore at this age, poor kid
has so many questions. I am lucky I get a lot of time to answer them in the
gym

Scotty




--
Team Rowdy Mouse, Banned from the Mall for life!

On 3/9/10 8:38 AM, I am Tosk wrote:

This was an interesting read on another group. I snipped it for you all to read
if you are so inclined.


snip


/snip

It's a real shame what this "political correctness" has done to our education
system. Having a daughter in High School is a real chore at this age, poor kid
has so many questions. I am lucky I get a lot of time to answer them in the
gym

Scotty





What irony that you consider yourself in a position to offer up such a
repost with your own comment.

The indisuptable *fact* is that *you* are an undereducated and
uneducated moron who was graduated from high school only because the
teachers didn't want to deal with you any longer. Because of your
general attitudes towards the world and towards work, you're incapable
of holding the most menial of jobs. Didn't you quit your last job,
sweeping out a barn?

I hope your daughter has resources other than you for getting the
important questions of life answered. If you are her source, she is
doomed to fail. She should be consulting with her teachers, her guidance
counselor, and the parents of her brighter friends.


--


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