Instructor evaluation surveys offer feedback
Eric Ely
Issue date: 1/27/10 Section: News
Madison Area Technical College students should be encouraged to learn that their thoughts and experiences with their courses and instructors play a role, in part, in instructor evaluations.
Near the end of each semester, students are asked to fill out instructor evaluation surveys. These surveys are intended to evaluate both the instructor and the course itself. In this way, students are allowed to voice their thoughts and opinions on their classroom experiences.
There are two different types of faculty at Madison College, full-time faculty and part-time faculty. This difference plays a role in the evaluation process.
Associate Deans of Arts and Sciences, Shawna Carter and Todd Stebbins, explained the difference this has as well as the process of reviewing these surveys after they have been completed by the students.
"Surveys are distributed to faculty," Stebbins begins, "faculty take them into the classroom, they are filled out and we typically encourage faculty to identify a student to collect them and bring them back to Arts and Sciences. We collect them here," Stebbins continues, "and send them to be electronically processed. They are run through a scanner."
"For part-time faculty, Shawna and I typically review those," Stebbins explained. "For full-time faculty the Dean works with the full-time teachers and is their supervisor."
Student surveys are a way for students to become more involved with their learning environment.
"I think there are a couple of purposes of the surveys," Carter explained. "The primary purpose of the survey is to have a mechanism for students to give feedback to the instructor." Student feedback, whether it is positive or negative, is a tool that helps the instructors fine-tune their teaching abilities. "The instructor can use that feedback to improve in certain areas or they can see what worked," Carter said.
The second purpose of the surveys comes into play during the review process. "We receive the part-time faculty survey results and we review that information and if we see good things happening in the classroom we make sure to email the part-time faculty encouraging words saying thank you for your commitment and these things that you're doing seem to be working, because we like to see that kind of feedback," Carter explained.
Near the end of each semester, students are asked to fill out instructor evaluation surveys. These surveys are intended to evaluate both the instructor and the course itself. In this way, students are allowed to voice their thoughts and opinions on their classroom experiences.
There are two different types of faculty at Madison College, full-time faculty and part-time faculty. This difference plays a role in the evaluation process.
Associate Deans of Arts and Sciences, Shawna Carter and Todd Stebbins, explained the difference this has as well as the process of reviewing these surveys after they have been completed by the students.
"Surveys are distributed to faculty," Stebbins begins, "faculty take them into the classroom, they are filled out and we typically encourage faculty to identify a student to collect them and bring them back to Arts and Sciences. We collect them here," Stebbins continues, "and send them to be electronically processed. They are run through a scanner."
"For part-time faculty, Shawna and I typically review those," Stebbins explained. "For full-time faculty the Dean works with the full-time teachers and is their supervisor."
Student surveys are a way for students to become more involved with their learning environment.
"I think there are a couple of purposes of the surveys," Carter explained. "The primary purpose of the survey is to have a mechanism for students to give feedback to the instructor." Student feedback, whether it is positive or negative, is a tool that helps the instructors fine-tune their teaching abilities. "The instructor can use that feedback to improve in certain areas or they can see what worked," Carter said.
The second purpose of the surveys comes into play during the review process. "We receive the part-time faculty survey results and we review that information and if we see good things happening in the classroom we make sure to email the part-time faculty encouraging words saying thank you for your commitment and these things that you're doing seem to be working, because we like to see that kind of feedback," Carter explained.
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