"Sweet Revenge!"
So my heart screamed when I received the e-mail regarding semester-end instructor evaluations. Finally, I had the opportunity to pass the buck for my mediocre grades and not worry about getting rancorous e-mails in response to my complaints.
Unfortunately, two things went wrong. First, there was yet another one of those technical failures, causing me to complete the evaluations twice. Second, I realized that my instructors this semester actually were really good, which in turn made it hard for me to flip my bucket of woes onto their respective heads.
With no malice left, I looked at the evaluations and started examining the questions. I expected substantive and meaty questions that would allow students to reflect on courses that get more stressful and expensive as the semester goes by.
I ended up grading the evaluation rather than the instructor.
The evaluation was one of the tritest pieces of prose I have seen in my entire life. This school -- like most schools -- seems to have one common evaluation for almost all courses. Incoming freshmen with close to 100 students in their classes have to answer the same questions as graduate students whose courses are all research and no instruction.
There was not even a perfunctory attempt to customize the questions to student status, class size, discipline or even the fact that some students just don't care.
I am one of those idealists who believe there is way too much rationalization and quantification of education today. If there's any doubt about that theory, examine the following literary gem:
Question: Was the instructor well prepared?
Answer choices: Almost always, Usually, 50 percent of the time, Occasionally, Almost never.
The instructor could completely blow an extremely crucial session covering the most intricate concept of the class and yet end up with a "Usually." And possibly tenure. And possibly an opportunity to return and avenge columns like this one.
Most of the questions are so innocuously worded that they fail to ask if the professor is actually a good teacher.
This leads me to how much these surveys actually matter. I have completed them regularly during my college career, but I have yet to see professors get fired, reprimanded or even change their coffee cup based on the suggestions students give on these surveys.
Students are apathetic simply because they don't believe that these surveys give them any voice at all. Professors would really have to tick someone off or commit sexual harassment to get any of these surveys used against them.
It would be wonderful if the powers that be would actually use these to understand what students felt throughout the course. Rather than trying to reduce courses to a statistic, the school should educate itself about the quality of education it dishes out.
This would mean being imaginative and unconventional. Here are some suggestions I hope to see added to future surveys; maybe feedback my students will be giving when I complete my doctorate 20 years from now.
Was the professor considerate of workload while assigning projects?
This is important because I have seen people float directionless semester after semester, completing multiple projects and never really getting the time to understand why or where it will eventually take them. Professors need to give students the time to understand the bigger meaning behind education.
Did the professor ensure punctuality?
I know college is supposed to be for adults. That said, some students' physical growth matches their mental retardation. There are those people who unapologetically waltz into class more than 10 minutes late and all they get is a grimace instead of having their bodies charred.
Any professor who shows the cajones to crack down on tardiness ought to get credit for it.
Did the professor use a technique you have never encountered before?
I have seen professors who actually take students out of the classroom and have them sit under trees and learn. Depending upon the weather, it would be cool to get away from the four walls once in a while. And the eye candy would not hurt either. But alas, the evaluation is far too taken up by its own timidity to break ground into such virgin territory.
Did the professor try to offend his superiors at a time when his own grades are on the brink? No wait -- I just did that.
Nishant Bhajaria is a graduate Computer Science major. Console him about his grades at nishant.bhajaria@asu.edu.
