Course Evaluations

Today I got my grades. I did ok, not great, but ok. Its a little difficult to tell what a good grade is because the school is shifting from an old evaluation method to a new one. Used to be on or about the last day of class you handed out a bunch of paper forms and students filled them out. Students could give numerical responses and comments, but the feeling was that most people just jammed through and put down numbers without taking time to give the comments.

There was also some thought that they weren't really a good measure of the course - that there was no way to tell if a course was good or if it was just the instructor, or the homework, or whatever - especially to distinguish between people that had to be there and that wanted to be there. I always seemed to wind up doing the FCEs in my classes on days where I was giving an exam. Somehow I think that was always to my detriment.

The new online FCEs were supposed to solve a lot of those issues. The time pressure was supposed to be released so it was thought people would write more, and demographic filters were added so that analysis could consider the responding population.

Looking at the results I think they may have succeeded in some ways, and failed in others. The demographic stuff doesn't work well for me because everyone is required to take my classes, both designers and production students and often I think that's the most useful demographic split. It doesn't look like the overall comment level went up any, which is too bad because this is the most useful part for me. Most depressing though was the response rate. In no class did more than 50% of students take the time to do the survey. At least the old way you got a more participatory sample, even if it was a cursory one.

The numbers say the same kinds of things, I give good contextual examples and most people gained factual knowledge and an appreciation of the field. I still need to work on feedback, and people still would like to see work scheduled differently. Still, based on both numbers and comments I think I am on a positive arc.

Comments? Well there was:

"Teacher is Dull. Subject is Dull. Teacher expects everyone to have a firm grasp on excel but never teaches it or mentions it at all."

but then there was:

"this is a great class, and while intense at times, participating and preparing for class was a joy."

and:

"dave is great, a humorous, clever, but absurdly intelligent and sharp professional and teacher"

and even:

"i was truly introduced to a whole side of production i had never known about before, and it turns out i really like it"

in my head I am thinking: "It was much better than Cats, I would see it again and again." (Who gets that reference?)

All in all I think its positive, some bumps, but mostly positive. I just wish more people had responded. Have to find some way to work on that for next semester.