Evaluating the Evaluations, Part 2

In my last post, I mused on the use of RateMyProfessors.com in search-committee deliberations. We all know the problems associated with that site, but what about the value of university-sponsored student evaluations of teaching?

When I started on the academic market, my advisers told me to photocopy some of my student evaluations and include them in my CV packet. Now that I’m on the other side of the table, I know that those evaluations are of little use since they are hand-selected by the applicant. Who would include poor evaluations?

Still, there’s a part of me, perhaps the cockeyed optimistic part, that likes to see those evaluations, however flawed. Search-committee veterans: How much do self-submitted student evaluations influence your deliberations?