Great
stuff, Jim. Would you be willing to share that Guide with the list when
it’s done?
-M
From: Team-Based Learning
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jim
Sibley
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 1:32 PM
To:
[log in to unmask]
Subject: Student Eval
Comment
I am rewriting my
guide to instructors for “Using Student Evaluation Data Wisely”....and thought
this might be useful for everyone
Came across a great paper.....with a
great student comment and analysis
Here is my take on this paper by
Thoma....
You can encounter very
negative reactions from students who insist on a black versus white, right
versus wrong world. When instructors introduce ambiguity these students can
become very uncomfortable and begin to question authourity. Uncomfortable
students, typically make instructors uncomfortable with their feedback. The
authour Thoma in his article “The Perry Framework and Tactics for Teaching
Critical Thinking in Economics” provides a very helpful and insightful student
evaluation comment (likely from a student struggling with accepting
ambiguity):
“It wasn’t a question of being hard or easy
but rather too subjective. I found this to be the worst course I have ever
taken, taught by the worst professor in the history of the human race…I have
found the best course I have ever taken to be an introduction to the biology of
the cell. The course required much more intense technical reading and a lot of
work effort. But it was very rewarding and absolutely objective in its grading
policy.”
Likely this comment is more about where the
student is at, and not so much about the instructors teaching. These are still
difficult comment to read and process. We need to remember that these comments
might not be true, but may be true of
something.
jim