Student evaluations of teaching

Laura McGarrity

LING TA Orientation, Sep. 20, 2019

Outline

Basics (what, who, when, why)

‘Before’: Getting the most out of your evals

‘After’: Using evals to improve your teaching

(Appendices)

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Basics

WHAT: Forms filled out by students to evaluate

your teaching (from the Office of Educational

Assessment OEA)

Paper vs. Electronic

Quantitative vs. Qualitative questions

(see appendices)

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Basics

WHO:

TAs teaching sections

TAs teaching stand-alones

NOT graders, RAs

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Basics

WHY:

You have to. (Every section, every quarter; Copy is sent to chair)

Can factor into TA appointment decisions, honors, awards, jobs

Provide feedback on what needs improvement in your teaching

(A summary of your) evaluations are visible online to anyone with

UW NetID! (Course Evaluation Catalog)

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Basics

WHEN:

Order evals mid-quarter (email sent out by the dept.)

Administered (usually) in last week of instruction

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Strategies for getting the most out of your

evaluations

Think about them before last day of quarter

Look at the forms/questions before quarter begins (OEA website), keep them in mind throughout quarter

Consider pros/cons of paper vs. electronic forms

Paper: pros – captive audiencecons – bad if low attendance; need pencils

Electronic: pros – accessible longer, no need for students to be presentcons – more easily ignored, yield notoriously low response rates

Make sure students understand why they’re important

(Let students know of changes made based on previous evals that they have benefitted from)

Make clear what you do (and don’t do) for the class

Give students examples of what is/is not constructive feedback

Consider giving your own mid-term evals to catch problems early (can ask CTL to conduct)

When all else fails: bribery

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Using evaluations to improve your teaching

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Your 1st time teaching a class will be imperfect; use that experience to

help improve your 2nd/3rd/4th …

When reading your evals…

Focus on the positives first

‘What aspects of this class contributed most to your learning?’

Choose one or two things to focus on for improvement

Remind yourself that there are things that are beyond your control

Implicit biases, unpopular class time/room/size, elective vs. required course, upper

vs. lower division, expected grade, etc.

Relevant links

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Office of Educational Assessment > Course Evaluations

https://www.washington.edu/assessment/course-evaluations/

Course Evaluation Catalog

https://www.washington.edu/assessment/course-evaluations/cec/

Center for Teaching and Learning > Student evaluations

https://www.washington.edu/teaching/topics/assessing-and-improving-

teaching/evaluation/student-evaluations/

Appendix 1: Small lecture/discussion form

x

x

x

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Appendix 2: Quiz section form

xx

x

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Appendix 3: Comment form questions

Was this class intellectually stimulating? Did it stretch your thinking?

Why or why not?

What aspects of this class contributed most to your learning?

What aspects of this class detracted from your learning?

What suggestions do you have for improving the class?

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