The flava:An arbitrator ordered Ryerson University in Canada to amend its faculty collective bargaining agreement to ensure that student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are not used to measure teaching effectiveness for promotion or tenure.
The article:
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/08/31/arbitrating-use-student-evaluations-teaching
This of course was the original issue of concern of Rate Your Students. When I was an Accursed Visiting Assistant Professor, I was astonished that the squishy old blob serving not well as department chair seemed to take the anonymous word of teenagers at face value, apparently with every word assumed to be literally true. That doubt is being cast on this always does my wicked little heart good, but it's not exactly new.
ReplyDeleteStealing from a blog comment from long ago...
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in grammar school, I was evaluated by people with Bachelor's degrees.
When I was in high school, I was evaluated by people with Master's degrees.
When I was in college, I was evaluated by people with doctorates.
Now, I have a doctorate and I'm evaluated by people with high school diplomas. And my dean thinks they are the be-all, end-all.