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W ednesday,November27,2013
P R I N T : News
Teacher evaluations keeps
instructors in the know
Sequoia Allen
The Clackamas Print
S tu d en ts who have been
at Clackamas Community
College for more than a term
or two have probably filled out
a teacher evaluation. But some
might wonder about what hap
pens to those evaluations.
Where does that form go,
and does it really matter?
The short answer is “yes.” It
does matter, and there’s much
more to it than that.
The evaluation forms that are
handed around by the depart
ment secretaries are part of the
teacher review process. While
this process varies somewhat
for full-time and part-time
faculty members, both groups
have periodic evaluations, as
per the agreements between the
college and the part-time and
full-time faculty associations.
The student evaluations are
typed up by the department
secretary so as to be anony
mous, and they are given to
the teacher after grades have
been submitted. The informa
tion also goes to the teach
er’s supervisors and becomes
pgfcrt of the teacher’s file in the
Human Resources department.
Many teachers conduct sur
veys during or at the end of their
courses to gather information
on how well their instructional
methods are working, and what
was helpful (or not) about the
classes they teach. Instructors
want to know how they’re
doing, and Sharon Parker,
chairwoman of the Business
Administration department,
says that above and beyond
the official evaluation process,
teachers and departments often
have less formal methods for
collecting feedback.
“It’s part of the kind of
feedback that faculty regularly
solicits in an informal kind of
context,” Parker said. “Even
[something] as simple as say
ing, ‘Hey, what do you guys
think about X, Y, Z?”’
Teachers may also request
additional formal evaluations,
and according to Parker, they
often do. Interestingly, she said
that if they have more than the
requisite number of evaluations
within a period, it is up to the
teachers to choose which ones
will go in their file.
Students’ feedback is just as
important to teachers as their
feedback is to students. When
a student gets a paper back, he
probably reads it over to see
what he did wrong and what
he did well to make the next
paper better. Good instructors
do the same thing with their
teaching; they want to know
what’s working and what isn’t.
When asked what she thought
of the teacher review process,
Carrie Kyser, the math depart
ment chairwoman, said that she
likes the process.
“The student evaluation
piece is probably the one that
I look at the most,” Kyser said.
However, what instructors
can get out of this information
is only as good as the feedback
itself. David Mount, acting
chairman of the English depart
ment, said that students don’t
always take the time to fill out
a meaningful evaluation.
“I think students are often
in a hurry when they fill out
those forms, and it’s only the
really exceptional students who
really stay and think about it,”
said Mount.
I think most stu
dents are [...]
rooting fo r you,
and they want you
to do a good job, ”
David Mount
chairman, English Dept.
One might wonder whether
students give fair feedback.
Do they just blame their bad
grades on their teachers? Or do
they try to be too nice? Both
things can happen.
When asked about the first
issue, Kyser says that taking
responsibility for your own
success is one of the things
that college teaches people.
She said that particularly in
some of the courses that fresh
man take, there seems to be a
*•.
greater predisposition for them
to blame their teachers and
not take responsibility for the
things that they themselves
didn’t do.
“Whereas once [students
are] in college for a while,
that really stops happening as
much,” said Kyser.
As for the latter issue, Mount
and Kyser seem to agree that
students are often too nice.
“Sometimes I wish they
would be a little more pre
cise in things that could be
improved about the class,” said
Mount. “I think most students
are [...] rooting for you, and
they want you to do a good
job.”;
Of course, students don’t
need to wait to be asked; teach
ers are there for students to
talk to. Mount pointed out that
it’s important for students to
know that they have options if
they feel they’re being treated
unfairly. If a solution can’t be
worked out with the instructor,
department chairpersons wel
come hearing from students,
and there is a procedure for
complaints located in the stu
dent handbook.
But it’s important to remem
ber that negative feedback is
only half of the equation; if a
teacher does something really
well, tell them so!
The bottom line is that
teachers need to know what
students think.
REMINDER!
Thanksgiving
Break:
CCC will be
closed Nov.
28-29 for
Thanksgiving.
No evening
classes will be
held after 4 p.m.
on Wednesday,
Nov. 27.
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