At the end of each semester, Duke students are handed sheets filled with questions about the courses they have just completed and asked to express their feelings about the class by shading in bubbles.
These evaluations are often hasty exercises for students, but for professors they have significant implications relating to administrative decisions, such as whether they earn tenure.
Tom Deans, associate professor of English at the University of Connecticut, broached the topic with the academic community when he wrote an op-ed for Inside Higher Ed this month that discussed the challenges of using course evaluations to gauge what students learned from a course.
Deans is exploring a new method of course evaluation. In addition to handing out evaluations on the last day of classes, Deans sent out surveys to students who had taken a class he taught two years ago while teaching at Haverford College.
“There are things you just can’t know about how [the] class will affect you a few years down the line,” Deans said.
Many Duke professors have mixed opinions on the University’s course evaluation process. John Aldrich, Pfizer-Pratt University professor of political science, said he thinks course evaluations are an “imperfect art.”
“It’s a bit of science, a lot of art and lots of compromise,” Aldrich said.
He added that he believes the questions on evaluation forms do not necessarily encompass everything students can gain from a class and said he thought it would be interesting to find a mechanism for gauging students’ appreciation for a course years down the road.
“It gives you some sense of what stuck with the students,” he noted.
Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education, said he thinks there is some value in delayed course evaluations.
“At the end of the semester, the [students] have one perspective, which is a very immediate one. But we should also be interested in what a student thinks in a year out. I think it’s worth trying to figure that out.”
But the delayed course evaluations are not always easy to implement.
“It’s hard to do on a large scale,” Deans said. “You must do it differently at different institutions. At Haverford College [there is a] highly motivated group of people who care deeply. But you can’t always motivate people.”
Martin Eisner, assistant professor of Italian studies at Duke, said he thought a mid-course evaluation was more practical. He added that this would allow instructors the opportunity to change their methods if students were dissatisfied.
Deans said he does not wish to replace semester-end course evaluations entirely.
“Semester course evaluations are both practical and valuable,” he said
Deans added that delayed course evaluations are directed toward professors who are looking to shape the ways students learn.
“It’s a bit of a morale booster,” he said. “It helps you teach your class better. [The students] most affected by the course are those who respond, and what they have to say, even if it’s not all rosy and wonderful, really matters.”
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