Message #58 OTHER USES OF TEACHING EVALUATIONS

Folks:

The posting below describes two interesting uses for teaching evaluations. It originally appeared as a letter to the editor in the August 17, 1998 issue of The Scientist (The News Journal for the Life Scientist), Vol. 12, no. 16, p.8, and is reprinted here with the permission of the author, Howard M. Lenhoff, Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine (hmlenhof@uci.edu).

Regards,

Rick Reis

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OTHER USES FOR TEACHING EVALUATIONS

The article by Ricki Lewis, "Teaching Evaluations: Widespread and

Controversial" (The Scientists, 12[9]:12-13, April 27, 1998), hit some important points regarding the use of teaching evaluations. I suggest two other (uses of evaluations):

Daily Evaluations:

If the purpose of teaching evaluations is to improve teaching, I recommend instituting daily evaluations of every lecture, rather than taking them when the semester or quarter is over. For the evaluations to have the greatest impact, the improvements must be made during the time that it can help the students writing the evaluations. I do this and find the process simple and confidential. At the beginning of every class, I pass out 10 to 20 half-sheets of paper with a few questions, such as, "Did you find any parts of the lecture unclear?" or "Did I cover the material too slowly, too rapidly, just right?" Then I leave space for comments. Usually I get back

half of the questionnaires, and invariably I find them quite helpful. I look themover, and at the beginning of the next lecture I answer any questions that appear to bother a number of students. I also try to rectify any teaching techniques that they find confusing.

Use of Evaluations for Promotion and Tenure:

If a department has developed a well-thought-out evaluation form to be used in the promotion and tenure process, then why not have federal granting agencies require university professors to submit the latest evaluations of their teaching performance with their grant proposals and renewal requests. The process would not make it more difficult for faculty members to apply for research grants. They would merely need to attach to their proposals the evaluations of their teaching performance that were submitted to their department as part of their most recent request for promotion or for merit-based increase in salary. Such a simple modification of our granting procedure would serve broad notice that the nation's granting agencies and the taxpayers who make those grants possible have a clear goal. The country wants the research scholars at our universities to be deeply concerned with their teaching responsibilities, and, in so doing, to stimulate our youth to follow in their footsteps.