Making Better Use of Student Evaluations of Teachers
From wsuwiki
Return to Teaching Resources Menu
Elbow, Peter. Making Better Use of Student Evaluations of Teachers. ADE Bulletin 101 (Spring 1992): 2-8 (online version)
From the introduction...
"There is a widespread skepticism about students as evaluators of teachers. I hear these criticisms most frequently:
- Students are immature and not yet educated and don't know about teaching and learning as we do.
- Students just go on feelings, what they like, what's fun or entertaining; they can be seduced by a good show and easy grades.
- Student estimations of teachers vary wildly; their evaluations obviously have no reliability.
What shall be conclude from these charges? What I conclude is this; we feel more keenly the problems of evaluation when we are on the receiving end than when we're on the giving end. That is, the charges I've just summarized simply throw a clearer light on the problems in all evaluation, particularly conventional faculty grading of students."