Academic Facepalm (evaluation edition)
Back in December, I was searching for the #tenure hashtag on twitter. There was some discussion (probably stated by Jesse Stommel 😜) which prompted me to search for this #hashtag out of curiosity to see what was tagged. Along with heartwarming stories of people who've just earned tenure (a nice perk right before the winter break!), there was this wonderful tweet specimen...
I'm not gonna lie. IT BUGS ME.
It bugs me as a learner. I've always completed course evaluations and I tried to give honest feedback to the professor. If the course was easy, hard, just right, I wanted them to know. If I was appreciative, I wanted them to know. Yes, sometimes I've half-assed it and just completed the Likert scale with a "loved the course" comment at the end, but many times I try to be more concrete about the feedback.
It bugs me as a program manager. I am the individual who sets up, collects, and often reminds students, about the course evaluations. My colleague is in charge of making sure things like these get into personnel files and maintains department records, and also seems to manager tenure and promotion paperwork for our department (among her other duties). Faculty committees spend time discussing this each year for merit increases. So. much. wasted. effort!
It bugs me as an adjunct. Yes, I teach for the fun of it. I like helping new instructional designers find their footing. As an adjunct, if my course evaluations are bad I could be no hired again just for that. There are no protections. And, then you've got this tenured individual who openly flaunts their privilege.
Now, don't get me wrong. I know that Level 1 evaluations are flawed. They don't measure learning, they measure reactions to the learning event. But they are feedback nevertheless. If you don't give a bleep about what students say about your course, one day, despite your tenure, you might not have any students left...
As an aside, I feel like tenure is an outdated institution. I'd advocate for strong unions over tenure any day of the week.
Your thoughts?
I'm not gonna lie. IT BUGS ME.
It bugs me as a learner. I've always completed course evaluations and I tried to give honest feedback to the professor. If the course was easy, hard, just right, I wanted them to know. If I was appreciative, I wanted them to know. Yes, sometimes I've half-assed it and just completed the Likert scale with a "loved the course" comment at the end, but many times I try to be more concrete about the feedback.
It bugs me as a program manager. I am the individual who sets up, collects, and often reminds students, about the course evaluations. My colleague is in charge of making sure things like these get into personnel files and maintains department records, and also seems to manager tenure and promotion paperwork for our department (among her other duties). Faculty committees spend time discussing this each year for merit increases. So. much. wasted. effort!
It bugs me as an adjunct. Yes, I teach for the fun of it. I like helping new instructional designers find their footing. As an adjunct, if my course evaluations are bad I could be no hired again just for that. There are no protections. And, then you've got this tenured individual who openly flaunts their privilege.
Now, don't get me wrong. I know that Level 1 evaluations are flawed. They don't measure learning, they measure reactions to the learning event. But they are feedback nevertheless. If you don't give a bleep about what students say about your course, one day, despite your tenure, you might not have any students left...
As an aside, I feel like tenure is an outdated institution. I'd advocate for strong unions over tenure any day of the week.
Your thoughts?
Comments
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