Ok, enough of the pity party. This story does have a positive spin. I can honestly say that the constant structure of feedback does require me to stay fully present, engaged, and accountable throughout my program--as student. However, what about faculty? Not just faculty in counseling programs, but in all graduate (or undergraduate as well) programs? Why shouldn't feedback be a two-way street in higher education? From what I can recall thus far in my graduate journey, the only opportunity to provide feedback to instructors is at the end of the course, in a impersonal, nonspecific, online likert-scale questionnaire. Perhaps I'm being a little transparent here, but by that point in the course, why am I being asked to provide suggestions for a class that I've just completed and will never see again? For future students in those courses? Sure, I can see that. However, this instructor now has how long until they are asked to teach this material again? Next semester? Next year? Longer? Are my words even going to matter by then? Many students may view this final evaluation "opportunity" as one more hoop to jump through to complete a course, and many choose not to complete it at all. So, what can we do about this?
In a recent Chronicle article titled, "An Emphasis on Student Evaluations Grows, Professors Increasingly Seek Mid-Course Feedback," the author describes the intent, delivery, and results of instructors asking for mid-semester feedback from students. The supporters of this concept believe that feedback delivered "early" can allow time to make substantial adjustments and bolster student satisfaction. Students will undoubtedly be more invested in providing useful feedback while they are still a part of the course in real-time. Those not in favor of mid-semester feedback argue that students are seen as "customers," however customers are not always right. Feedback is unscientific, and any attempt to "win over" student satisfaction can lead to possible grade inflation. So where do you stand?
As someone who is training to become a faculty member, I am in favor of the mid-semester feedback approach. Final evaluations can still be used for university purposes (tenure status, etc.), but I see real value in embracing a mid-point "check-in" with students in each and every course. Not only do we have the opportunity to integrate feedback that optimizes student learning while the learning is still occuring, but we increase the odds of receiving a more positive and satisfactory final course evaluation at the end of the term. Everybody wins!
While I am "new" to higher education instruction, I view teaching as an art, something that matures, adjusts, and continues to grow on a continuum. Even if we've taught a course 100 times in the past, that next class is going to host a new group of students with unique personalities, needs, and preferred ways of learning. This should be an exciting opportunity to learn from our students. I'm sure we've all taken a course from an "old school" professor who teaches the same course material they initially used decades ago, without utilizing current technologies, and without asking students, "Hey, how does this work for you?"
Just as in my current student status, this would require professors to be more present, fully engaged, humble, and accountable for student learning and satisfaction. This might appear threatening to some. Yet, just as counselors are required to stay sharp for the care of their clients, professors should be called to the same cause--the care of their students.
I have learned to view feedback as a present that I can chose to open, throw away, or give back to 'The giver.' As Kylie mentioned, in some graduate programs it seems less a choice and more a way of life.
ReplyDeleteI think another downfall to the current evaluation process is that the forms are usually completed on the last day of the semester after the final exam or presentation. Students are more motivated to win the race to the parking lot than they are to complete the poorly designed evaluation materials.
I am in support of mid-semester evaluations for professors. I do worry that students may not be honest in fear of facing repercussions that may result in a lower grade. They may feel that if they are honest and include constructive criticism they may be penalized for doing so. Although evaluations are designed to be anonymous I know professors who have gone to great lengths to figure out what student(s) provided negative comments on their evaluation.
Kylie, I like your thoughts and I am in favor of a mid-semester evaluation process. The professor I had for SRM 600 actually gave our class a mid-semester evaluation so that he would know how everyone was feeling about the instruction of the class. While I had no problems with his teaching style (and actually liked it) I had more respect for him that he was willing to listen to our concerns mid-semester.
ReplyDeleteThe point you brought up about those against mid-semester evaluations thinking this is too much of the student being a “customer” I do not agree with. Very similar to what Aaron said, feedback can be taken or left. There is no way that a faculty member (or anyone for that matter) is ever going to please EVERY student in their class. I believe that the mid-semester evaluation, just like the end of the semester evaluation, should look for themes. If numerous students are having a problem with a specific thing, then change that. I don’t think the purpose of any feedback or evaluation is to recreate the wheel (unless there are some serious problems).
I also believe that any feedback given to a professor should stay anonymous whether it is mid-semester or at the end of the semester. Students should have to worry about a grade being affected because they had a less-than-perfect evaluation of a professor.
I too am new to the environment. I am "cutting my teeth" on remedial ed - and it's full of issues for me. For one, how do we get the students to take ownership for a course that they are going to receive no credit for but still have to pay for? (This is one of my personal beefs with the model.) I took it upon myself to find a solution to this because the advice I was given was, well... limited in scope. The answer was simple though...I ask the students what their feelings are, how they are feeling about the material and what I can do to better deliver it to them. It's called 'compassion' and it goes a long way to securing buy-in in any environment (the best way to work around the boss's administrative assistant is to ask them about their children or their sports team and to always have something unrelated to the real issue with which you can 'grease the [conversational] wheels'). I believe that professors should be evaluated - and that those evaluations should have some weight in enlightened self-interest. Evaluation by peers is another tool which I don't think we are leveraging enough towards faculty performance. Peer evaluation is meaningful and provides an added element of social reinforcement of performance. Why not require other teachers from the department to sit in on each other's classes? Obviously, the "you scratch my back I scratch yours" paradox comes into play with this - but it provides not only feedback for faculty but also climate awareness for Departments - something that is often lost in the shuffle.
ReplyDeleteKylie, thank you for your post. I agree, mid-term evaluations would be a great tool for both the instructor and the student. While my primary role at my college is in administration, I have also taught remedial courses (as an attempt to be in touch with the issues and problems faculty are facing and to see if I can help alleviate any of these issues as an administrator). While I was confident in my skills as an instructor, mid-term evaluations would have provided me some greater insight on whether or not my students felt like the course was living up to their expectations.
ReplyDeleteOnce again a student, I would like the same opportunity to provide this information to my instructor(s). Talking one-on-one with an instructor can be difficult and doesn't provide the same type of confidentiality that an evaluation can provide. I think it would also provide the instructor with an opportunity to address issues that students are facing during the semester.
Overall, evaluations give students and instructors an opportunity to communicate to one another. Why wait until the end of the semester to do this? Make evaluations a more interactive process that could help both the student and the faculty member.
Occaisionally I have had instructors who asked for mid-term feedback. Primarily they focused on the content - format of the class etc. As a student I think there is a natural inclination to wonder "do they really want me to be honest?" I would also argue this might be more true at the undergraduate level than at the graduate level.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Aarons point we struggle to get students to complete their online, annonymous evaluations before the end of the semester for fear of reprucussions. I wonder if mid-term evaluations would heighten that and if faculty would get truly honest feedback.
I struggle with the evaluation process as it is anyway - I do try to give honest feeback but it's written and I never get to know if it's appreciated or gets applied in the future.
I do agree that more mechanisms for faculty and students to engage in reflection about the teaching and learning process are valuable.
When I went through graduate student orientation, a lot of people said of a lot of things. The one thing I actually remember is someone telling me that in graduate constructive feedback was a compliment from faculty. If a faculty member gave you feedback that meant they believed the potential to do better. After three semesters in graduate school, I have learn to value the feedback my faculty give because there is only a limited time frame in which I am guaranteed feedback on my academic skills, and it is quickly ending.
ReplyDeleteAs for professor feedback, I was also in the same class that Dana was where the professor asked for feedback on his teaching at midterms. I believe that his searching for feedback meant that he was dedicated to helping students learn and confident enough to learn from feedback in order to best teach students.
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ReplyDeleteThis topic is quite timely for me personally because my colleagues and I just sought feedback from students enrolled in our new program focused on sustainability. We as a faculty group have spent nearly two years developing the program and intended it to be an interdisciplinary opportunity for students to tackle the grand challenges that we humans face. We also intended our students to deal with ambiguity on a scale that they had probably not seen before because, after all, there are no “simple answers” when it comes to maintaining the ecosystem that we as humans are damaging every day. In return, we expected students to be engaged and interested in the topic, especially since our program is voluntary and they (or, it turns out, one of their parents) signed up and paid an extra $850/year fee to participate.
ReplyDeleteWe asked students two questions, via SurveyMonkey so it was anonymous. The two questions were, “In what ways is the residential academic program meeting your expectations (both academically and socially)?” and “In what ways is the residential academic program not meeting your expectations (both academically and socially)?” We received 36 responses from a program that includes close to 90 participants, and it is fair to say that their responses were extremely honest. That is exactly what we wanted.
We identified some themes, most of which were either expected (it turns out that first year students are no more comfortable with ambiguity than first year doctoral students are when it comes to wanting to know what is expected) and/or slightly acerbic. The faculty directors responded with a two page “we hear you and here is what we are going to do in response” note that was handed out today. One faculty member in particular was adamantly opposed to responding to students’ desires for change. In his view, we (the faculty) are here to teach what we deem to be important, and if students do not appreciate the need to learn the content, then that is their loss. On the other end of the spectrum, one faculty member seems concerned that we will have mass bail out at semester and that her program’s existence could be in jeopardy so we should do whatever it takes to make the students happy. I find myself somewhere in the middle.
I appreciate the students’ discomfort and concern that their course content was changing until week 10 (and yes, for those who are counting, that was last week). Criticism on that point is fair enough. However, I also believe that students have spent so many years being told, “This is what you need to learn because this will be on the test,” that many of them have lost the ability to identify what is important to them. Hopefully, together, we will find common ground regarding our mutual expectations.
Although I agree that mid-term anonymous feedback can be an added benefit to the students (and faculty member!) in a particular course, I don't think that this is the only effective way to provide mid-term feedback. I think that individual conversations-- that are structured in a way that supports candid and productive feedback-- can be a valuable model to employ for instructor feedback, particularly at the graduate level.
ReplyDeleteUNC's HESAL program refers to itself as a "community of scholars". Specifically, the website states, "... we are committed to creating an atmosphere which supports multiple perspectives and diverse students, both in the pursuit of individual research and as a community of scholars". I believe that similar language is included in the Catalog. If I'm not mistaken, that community of scholars refers to us, the students, as active participants.
With this in mind, wouldn't conversations or discussions about the course-- mid term-- be an appropriate way to go about giving and receiving feedback? As concerned community members, is it not our responsibility to provide that feedback in a constructive and proactive manner?
Granted, I've not taught, so I may be a bit of a Pollyanna here to think that students would actually provide honest feedback and that instructors would take this into consideration in executing the remainder of the course (note that I said, "take into consideration"; not "change the course based on student feedback"). However, in the right program, such as one which attests to being a community of scholars, I think that a conversation or discussion mid-term is an appropriate way to give and receive instructor feedback. After all, if bettering the course and improving learning is the ultimate goal; if the one receiving the feedback (the instructor) has questions or would like clarification on how to do just that, he or she would likely benefit from a dialogue with the student(s).
I have come to have a love/hate relationship with feedback. I have grown considerably from the feedback I have received in counseling Master's and now doc program. On the other hand, it is incredibly difficult to be constantly vulnerable and exposed! Anyway....
ReplyDeleteI think professors need to know how they are doing way before the end of the semester. One of the big "no-nos" we are learning about giving our future students feedback is that you have to give it to them sooner than later. It is not fair to give a student feedback at the very end of the semester (say they are a practicum student) that they will not pass practicum and will need to retake it. How do they know where they are at and given a fair chance to grow? The same goes for the professors.
I have noticed that the professors who solicit mid-semester feedback are the ones who are already doing a great job! Are they asking because they know they are doing well or are they doing well because they have constantly asked for mid-semester feedback? It's the old chicken or the egg debate.
While I believe mid-semester reviews for the professors should be mandatory, I do understand the issue of students feeling unsure of how honest they can be because their grade is still on the line. Someone talked about raking through the reviews to find general themes to give to the professor. This would be a good idea to give them valuable feedback yet at the same time protect students' identities and grades.