Zooze the Horse roams around the pasture near Lamar State College. Zooze thinks about problems in academia. Zhe wants proffies to submit posts (blog posts, not fence posts).
Saturday, April 15, 2017
SAGE Publications, can we agree that this is fair use? Thanks.
To the surprise of no RYS/CM reader or, indeed, Zoozian pasture dweller, Batshit U has recently increased the importance of student evaluations in its T&P process.
Weasle-leg University never had anything else, so we cant' increase the importance.
Cool story: Course was team-taught by a husband-and-wife team. Students filled out two sets of course evaluations, for the same course. Not only did the wife get lower scores in the places you'd cynically expect, she also got lower scores on "marked items returned promptly" and "the textbook is a valuable resource".
Yet we continue to use the things, because to do anything else would require, you know, actual resources.
Yes, when they mark you down for one thing, there's a halo effect across the board. They don't bother reading. I've gotten dinged by kids strongly disagreeing that I met with the class promptly. I've never been late for class, never mind been out sick for one. And yes, dinged for marked items returned promptly. I hand them back the class after they're due or the exam is taken. Um, how much sooner do they want them?
Reminds me of this study, where the same professor in an online course got significantly higher ratings across the board when students thought that person was male.
"When comparing the evaluations of the perceived gender identities, the male identity received higher scores across all 12 variables students evaluated. In six variables -- professionalism, promptness, fairness, respectfulness, enthusiasm and giving praise -- the differences were statistically significant. In promptness, for example, the instructors matched their grading schedules so that students in all groups received feedback at about the same rate. The instructor whom students thought was male was graded a 4.35 out of 5 for promptness, while the instructor perceived to be female received a 3.55."
Our online teaching gurus (most of whom have considerably less teaching experience than those they are attempting to mentor) place great emphasis on including an instructor photo in prominent places on the course site. Fortunately, student evals don't count for too much in our retention/promotion/salary evaluation scheme (there also haven't been raises that match the cost of living for oh, a decade or so, but that's another subject). But if they did, I'd be very tempted to demand the right to represent myself as a young white male online. At the very least, students would probably address me as "dr." or "professor." Those who came in for a face to face draft conference might also be a bit surprised, but does it matter? Presumably they'd be happier with the (perceived) quality of instruction they received for most of the semester, so that's a win-win, right? right???????
(I'm trying very hard not to make any comments about gender, perceived competence, and recent elections here, but apparently, given the existence of this parenthetical addition, I have not succeeded. Aargh. It's the first time I've thought about that study since November, and thinking about it definitely brings back the frustration with the boastful, b.s.-ing, mansplaining bully beating the woman who's been doing her homework/paying her dues for decades. Okay; political tangent over.)
P.S. Is that a good impact factor or a bad one? I know nothing about impact factors (except what they're supposed to represent, and that they're controversial).
To the surprise of no RYS/CM reader or, indeed, Zoozian pasture dweller, Batshit U has recently increased the importance of student evaluations in its T&P process.
ReplyDeleteWeasle-leg University never had anything else, so we cant' increase the importance.
ReplyDeleteCool story: Course was team-taught by a husband-and-wife team. Students filled out two sets of course evaluations, for the same course. Not only did the wife get lower scores in the places you'd cynically expect, she also got lower scores on "marked items returned promptly" and "the textbook is a valuable resource".
Yet we continue to use the things, because to do anything else would require, you know, actual resources.
Yes, when they mark you down for one thing, there's a halo effect across the board. They don't bother reading. I've gotten dinged by kids strongly disagreeing that I met with the class promptly. I've never been late for class, never mind been out sick for one. And yes, dinged for marked items returned promptly. I hand them back the class after they're due or the exam is taken. Um, how much sooner do they want them?
DeleteReminds me of this study, where the same professor in an online course got significantly higher ratings across the board when students thought that person was male.
Delete"When comparing the evaluations of the perceived gender identities, the male identity received higher scores across all 12 variables students evaluated. In six variables -- professionalism, promptness, fairness, respectfulness, enthusiasm and giving praise -- the differences were statistically significant.
In promptness, for example, the instructors matched their grading schedules so that students in all groups received feedback at about the same rate. The instructor whom students thought was male was graded a 4.35 out of 5 for promptness, while the instructor perceived to be female received a 3.55."
Our online teaching gurus (most of whom have considerably less teaching experience than those they are attempting to mentor) place great emphasis on including an instructor photo in prominent places on the course site. Fortunately, student evals don't count for too much in our retention/promotion/salary evaluation scheme (there also haven't been raises that match the cost of living for oh, a decade or so, but that's another subject). But if they did, I'd be very tempted to demand the right to represent myself as a young white male online. At the very least, students would probably address me as "dr." or "professor." Those who came in for a face to face draft conference might also be a bit surprised, but does it matter? Presumably they'd be happier with the (perceived) quality of instruction they received for most of the semester, so that's a win-win, right? right???????
Delete(I'm trying very hard not to make any comments about gender, perceived competence, and recent elections here, but apparently, given the existence of this parenthetical addition, I have not succeeded. Aargh. It's the first time I've thought about that study since November, and thinking about it definitely brings back the frustration with the boastful, b.s.-ing, mansplaining bully beating the woman who's been doing her homework/paying her dues for decades. Okay; political tangent over.)
P.S. Is that a good impact factor or a bad one? I know nothing about impact factors (except what they're supposed to represent, and that they're controversial).
ReplyDeleteExtremely high for social and behavioral studies.
Delete