Office of Educational Enhancement

As we turn the corner on Spring Break, many instructors at UT Dallas have received, or will soon receive, their course evaluations from last semester. I would like to initiate a conversation about course evaluations now that the topic is fresh in everyone’s minds. To frame our conversation, let’s start by first thinking about how we approach our course evaluations. There is a lot of debate as to how well course evaluations measure teaching effectiveness, and that is not where I would like to lead our conversation here. Instead, I would like us to examine how we can use our course evaluations to build upon our strengths as teachers.

Almost everyone who receives a class evaluation in their mailbox is going to have a feeling of trepidation. This is all the more true for beginning instructors, but speaking as someone who has been teaching in higher education for almost a decade now, there is still that twinge when I see that envelope. Every instructor would like students to enjoy his or her class, subsequently, reactions to reading one’s own evaluations can range from hurtful and embarrassing to euphoric and gratifying. I want us to go beyond this brief emotional window and work on using course evaluations as a scaffold for improving our classroom experience. This can also further develop reflective practices so that we may more easily direct our classes and better document our teaching effectiveness for tenure and promotion.

Sometimes instructors are frustrated by scaled evaluation questions in course evaluations either because they find the results unhelpful or they feel that such diagnostic surveys are not specific enough. One way to reduce frustration is to become familiar with the scoring of the evaluations. Remember they are designed to collect a snapshot of the students experiences and are not designed to provide answers to every issue surrounding our teaching. The University of Texas at Dallas numeric survey questions are drawn from the Instructional Assessment System at the University of Washington. The scaled questions of the UT Dallas course evaluations serve three functions. There are questions that:

provide a general evaluation — “The course as a whole was: “

provide feedback to the instructor — “Course organization was: “

provide information about the course to other students — “Use of class time was: “

For a report on the reliability of items in the IAS form, please read the OEA Report (pdf).

Now, let’s take a step towards to using your course evaluations’ written comments. First, it is important to try and dissociate written comments from you personally. Often, when instructors read evaluations, we tend to give more weight to negative comments rather than the neutral or positive.

One of the best ways of reviewing written evaluations is to quantify the results. After a quick review, go over the written evaluations looking for common points. Try to categorize written statements that are similar and/or reoccur, making sure that your survey includes both positive and negative points. The point of this is to derive a “feedback snapshot” of your class.

It is important to pay careful attention to the positive elements, as these are the stepping off points for augmenting the classroom experience for your students. It is much easier to improve upon your course evaluations by applying your strengths rather than put all of your effort into elements with which you might be having difficulties.

The purpose of your feedback snapshot of written comments is to identify your teaching strengths as well as any perceived weaknesses from the students’ perspective. At the same time, quantifying comments in a neutral manner decreases personal attachment to the individual comments. This can then lead to a more productive understanding about possible courses of action for improvement. Don’t worry, your method does not have to be complex.

For example, one instructor quantified her results in a simple list of the most common student comments. The results indicated that students in her section were frustrated because they felt that they could not keep up and felt tat they were left behind during the lectures. At the same time, they overwhelmingly appreciated the instructor’s enthusiasm and scored their interest in the class quite highly.

There are several possible avenues for the instructor to take. One example: more consistent use of the blackboard, which the instructor already uses occasionally. This established a pace for the lecture that is more appealing for the students and it provided an opportunity for them to ask questions.

Moreover, outlining the lecture visually on the blackboard was a way for her to more effectively assist the students’ comprehension of the material. At the same time, the instructor also moved some of her course content on-line where students were able to supplement their knowledge and/or review content covered in class. By leveraging her enthusiasm and the students’ interests in the course material, the instructor was able to promote student interest in the online environment as well.

We all have skills wherein we excel in the classroom and it is vital for us to pay attention to those strengths. It is also important to remember that improving our teaching takes time. We need time to collect information over semesters and we need time to identify what we want to and sometimes need to work on in our teaching. Thus, it is always good to start early and be patient with ourselves and our students. Keep in mind, too, that building upon our strengths is the most effective and efficient means to continually improve our satisfaction with teaching as well as for improving the students’ experiences in the classroom

Also, remember that the OEE staff have several years of teaching experience as well as being experienced faculty consultants. If you would like to discuss your evaluations or talk about strategies for improving the classroom experience, please send us an e-mail or call. We would be happy to provide a free, confidential consultation for you.

Positive Classroom Learning Environments, Improved Student Outcomes

Since its beginnings 40 years ago, the field of learning environments has grown considerably and spread around the world. Although qualitative data-collection methods have provided important insights, a hallmark of the field today is the availability of a rich range of economical and valid questionnaires for assessing students’ perceptions of their classroom environments. As dependent variables, learning environment assessments have provided useful criteria of effectiveness for evaluating a large range of educational programs and teaching approaches. As independent variables, positive learning environments have consistently produced improved student outcomes (including achievement) for many different school subjects, grade levels and countries. Given the established links between positive learning environments and improved student outcomes, it is important that practitioners pay greater attention to assessing, monitoring and improving their classroom learning environments.

When: February 10, 5:30-7pm
Where: McDermott Suite

We’ve just added several workshops to our events calendar for February. Visit our website for details and to sign up.

Everyone here at the Office of Educational Enhancement would like to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

With the arrival of the Thanksgiving Holiday, we are prompted to think about the semester coming to a close.  There are several things that an instructor can do to facilitate the transition into 2009, and this week I will address the topic of being a reflective practitioner, a subject of conversation in a recent OEE workshop, “Writing a Statement of Teaching Philosophy.”

As you end your course, take stock of how things have been going.  Were there sections of the course that went well?  Ask yourself how the class came to those points of success.  It is important to spend a good amount of your time and thoughts on the positive elements of the course.  It is much easier, and more enjoyable, to improve our teaching when we can build from our strengths first.  Once you have taken stock of your successes, ask yourself where sections of the course were a bit more challenging, both for you and for the students?  What do you think led to those difficulties?  How might you and/or your students have been better prepared for these challenges?

Reviewing your syllabus now is a great start to insure the retention of successful teaching strategies for future courses.  At this point, it is best to jot a note or two along the margins of your syllabus and/or lecture notes rather than setting out to rework the entire course.  Having these notes with you when course evaluations arrive will allow you to crosscheck your perceptions of the course with students’ perceptions.  At the same time, writing notes to yourself about your teaching successes and challenges will make documenting your teaching effectiveness that much easier over time.  Communicating our successes in the classroom is an essential component of presenting who we are, whether we are going up for tenure review or are on the job market.  Likewise, if we want to keep improving our classroom experience, then actively reflecting upon and writing about our teaching on a regular basis is a necessary practice.

If you are interested in learning more about our services, upcoming workshops and/or the benefits of actively reflecting on your teaching, feel free to contact any of us at the OEE.  We would be happy to talk with you about this and any other subject regarding teaching at UT Dallas.  In the meantime, have fun in class!

OEE is working with each school to develop a teaching certification for teaching associates. These workshops and activities will also be available to all graduate students who are interested in teaching in higher education once they graduate.