Teacher Evaluations

[AlphaGam1019]

As the semester winds down, I have been given these teacher evaluations for each class to fill out. There are about 20 questions- questions ranging from how I liked their teaching style to if they graded fairly. Questions vary with department and all the answers are filled in on ScanTron. Also, I have an optional sheet where I can add additional comments that will go directly to the professor after the semester is finished. This is all done anonymously.

The worst part about this is that the students in my school will never see the results of the evaluations! There are a couple of makeshift places that I can get info on the teachers at my school, but they far from "complete":

http://www.pick-a-prof.com/

http://www.angelfire.com/ga/struitt/teachers.html


I'm wondering:
1) Does your school have teacher evaluations given to all students at the end of the semester?

2) Are the information/results of these evaluations public?

3) Are grade distributions for each class/professor made public?

[juniorgrrl]

1.) yes
2.) no
3.) no

http://www.universitytools.com is a great site where people can rate their "teachers" (I've begun to use quotes when referring to those people who read powerpoint to me every day. They aren't teachers. They're babysitters). It used to be better, but now they can selectively edit your comments

They have it for UTAustin, LSU, Tulane, and UT I think

[Thrillhouse]

Originally posted by juniorgrrl
1.) yes
2.) no
3.) no

http://www.universitytools.com is a great site where people can rate their "teachers" (I've begun to use quotes when referring to those people who read powerpoint to me every day. They aren't teachers. They're babysitters). It used to be better, but now they can selectively edit your comments

They have it for UTAustin, LSU, Tulane, and UT I think

teacherratings.com is another good one. I posted about it awhile back in the academics forum.

[DGPhoney]

Yes we do Teacher evaluations, but some teachers don't feel them neccessary so , some teachers here won't give them out.
No the information is not made public for the view of the students
For us on grade distributions, it all depends on the teacher, in almost 4 yrs I never had a teacher post them , but some of my friends have had theirs posted, so I guess it all depends on what class you take.
I do think they need to be given out to all students, and that the faculity board and College advisors really need to take the time to read them and truly understand why we evaluate the way we do, I mean true some students don't care and write whatever, but a good deal of us do, and there are just some aweful classes or professors out there ya know!

DGPhoney~

[GmuTeke]

::steps up on soapbox:: (gee i just got up on one of these in the TKE forum)

Teacher Evaluations at my school are the silliest thing ever. First of they're given at the end of the semester, so if there's no room for the teacher to actually LEARN anything to improve their performance for you. Sure next semester's class may be better, but your class was still terrible. Also, it gives some students the opportunity to be bitter and petty and leave a "parting shot" of meanness to the teacher even if they did deserve it.

Also, Teacher Evals can really be influenced by final grades. Studeis have shown that a teacher can get a highly favorable rating if they give 80% of their students an A. It leads to grade inflation in order to get a favorable score for the faculty member.

Of course, the university will only use those on non tenured faculty. I mean really, at my school, there are tenured German faculty members that have been at the school for 30 years. One of them conistently gets poor marks, but she's got tenure, so nothing short of a massive disaster will dislodge her from the university, and poor teaching is not a massive disaster. I've even had tenured faculty not give us evaluations saying "I've been here 30 years, what more are they going to learn this semester".

Also, evals are only good against teachers who will return next semester. or who are teaching the same course again. Mason has a large proportion of part time faculty, some of which changes and shifts as the sands on a beach.

Personally, I feel they're an illusion of power and control given to students to make them feel better and that they have a voice in the process. But that's just me.

::gets off soapbox:: just my 4 cents (yikes this post was a bit long, hence the 4 cents)

[Optimist Prime]

they have them at my school but they are anonmous. YOu have a scontron one and a paper one. They are suposed to be the same, as the numbers on the scantron correspond to the numbers on the other one. The profs dont see them till the next semester. Unless they get fired. I guess they let them know if they get fired.