Course Evaluation? I’m terrified… 31 March 2007
Posted by neny in My perspectives.trackback
I planned to have a course evaluation for courses that I am teaching this trimester. I did. I swear. I even put it in the syllabus.
Did I do it?
Nope. I have no time.
First of all, I have to finish all materials and give my students time to finish the assignments (which, by the way, quite a lot, as I don’t give tests). Giving a course evaluation, where they will be left by themselves for an hour to fill in the form, will reduce the number of class meetings.
Secondly, I don’t have time to retype and copy the evaluation form, which I planned to adapt from Iowa State’s (thanks to Dan Douglas, my former professor in Iowa State, for sending me a copy of it) and I don’t have time to ask one of my senior colleagues to observe me teaching.
Thirdly, I am terrified of the prospects of having low scores and nasty comments from my students about my methodology, materials and assignments. And having a colleague criticizing my way of teaching gives me the creep. I know, I know, I should be open-minded and be objective about course evaluating my classes. The results of the course evaluation, no matter how painful it is, will be beneficial for improving me as a teacher and for improving my courses. And I know that I should ‘walk the talk’, meaning that I should do what I’ve been telling my students in my English for Specific Purposes (ESP) class that a course evaluation is vital to the design of the course.
Yet, I just don’t have the guts to do it and it led me to my other excuses of not having time to produce the course evaluation time, to distribute the forms and to invite an observer to my classes. I guess, I’m still not ready to face the possibilities of having myself being criticized about my teaching performance. Nobody likes being criticized, ain’t it right? It’s painful for my pride and it will ruin my self-confidence about the popularity of my courses.
Honestly, I’ve been thinking about the low intake of my courses. At every beginning of the trimester, when students are dropping and adding classes, I will anxiously check the registration website from time to time, literally every 10 minutes, to check how many students register to my courses. And guess what, my classes are definitely not the most popular one. I rarely have a full class, with the exception of my Business English class.
In retrospect, I guess the reason of that situation is because my courses usually use assignments as a means of assessing students’ performance. And my assignments are usually time-consuming. I heard from a student of mine, who is pretty close to me and feels comfortable of being honest to me, that assignments are not popular among students because they are time consuming and usually require more efforts to complete than attending tests. Tests usually take about 100 minutes to finish and students only need to study the night before to prepare themselves for the tests. Once it’s done, it’s done. It is unlike doing assignments in which students are required to understand the instructions, read the theories underlying the answers of the assignments, collect materials for the assignments, write the answers or reports and presentation, and present the reports. For instance, for my ESP final project, a month and a week was not enough because they needed to find a learner, conducted an interview with the learner, did a need analysis (in which they had to read the book first to be able to do it), created a syllabus for 8 class meetings, designed a material for one meeting, wrote a report, prepared a presentation, and presented the report. Although my assignments are usually done in groups, I still hear students groaned and complained about it. I can of course blame my students for not being able to manage their time well to finish my assignments. After all, I usually give the instructions for the final project on the first day of class, along with the syllabus. However, I really want to know if that is the case and not because of my mistake.
But, giving assignments is one of my teaching philosophies. First, it is unfair to assess the ability and knowledge of a person just in a two hours test. It will not give a complete picture of someone’s ability. Plus, not every person can memorize all information in a textbook. Secondly, I believe that it is the duty of a teacher to prepare his/her students for his/her future job. I don’t think my students will be required to do a multiple choice question or write an essay answer when a problem arises in his/her workplace. It is most likely that they will be required to work with their colleagues in groups, do a complete analysis using data and resources, produce a report, and present their solution to the problem. Those elements can only be practiced through doing a final project. Tests are good; they just can’t truly assess overall student ability. I think, for the time being, I should be contented with a reflective note part in the assignments, where my students can reflect about their experiences in doing the project, what they have learned from doing the project, what they like or dislike about doing the project, and any comments/criticism/suggestions for the betterment of the project. At least, this is some kind of an evaluation, although not of all aspects of the course. These reflective notes have helped me shaping and perfecting the assignments, and sometimes my students will also voice their concerns, criticism, and comments on the course.
How do you evaluate your course? I really want to hear other teachers’ experiences in this matter, so drop me a comment!
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