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[navelgazer]

I just got back my evaluations for my one "required for the majors and often unpopular course." Aka The Class That Matter. After busting my ass all semester, significantly responding to mid-semester evaluations, working with colleagues and our "teaching center," they were actually even worse than last year. My evaluations have gone down every year, even as my mastery of the material and teaching has improved by other measures (peer reviews). Criticisms include everything: some things I know to work on (lecture organization), some WTFs (they wanted me to cover material in exact chronological order which would be really confusing among other things), and some things I will continue to work hard to communicate (this is why we do active learning, this is why you need to read more than the textbook, this is the reason why I am required to assign you an essay this term).

I am in my third year (I had a one year extension due to a kid), and beginning to feel like this is going to be a major problem for my tenure vote at the department level. I'm at an R1, but my publications won't be enough to make-up for teaching issues. My other, smaller class evaluations went from fine to good, but they are not yet great.

So, my question is, how do I check in about this? I'm currently going for the "ask a trusted mentor" route, but that seems really hard. I'm afraid they'll tell me not to worry about something that is actually a Big Deal. These are mentors I discussed this class with often during the semester. There is a big complication: working this hard the past three semesters and then getting these evaluations has made me really dislike teaching. I am now interviewing for a probably spousal hire at a school where I would have a 4/4 load, putting me in a situation where I should be thrilled about working at the same school as my husband. Instead, I would rather be unemployed and change careers if we move.

[hegemony]

Daniel Kahneman's recent book Thinking Fast and Slow is very good on the difficulty the human mind has in drawing conclusions from numbers and thinking about statistics.  He proved that even professional academic statisticians, when asked for informal conclusions from various statistics, got it wrong.

What I would suggest that is that your evaluations going down is a statistical blip and means very little.  And that you should not be depressed at all.

It's clear that certain courses attract low evaluations.  "Required for the major" and "often unpopular" is definitely going to be one of those courses.  We have a course like that, and we just have to accept the fact that anyone who teaches it is going to get lower evals than in other courses.  In addition I imagine this is a fairly large course, and those get lower evals.  It's a set-up for low evals.  Now, does that mean some parts of your teaching couldn't improve?  I'm sure nearly everyone's could.  It's also the case that some of the teaching-eval Jedi mind tricks discussed on the Fora might be useful.  For instance, it sounds as if you should pre-empt some of their comments by explaining over and over, till they get it, why you can't teach the material chronologically.  ("That way you just couldn't see why X resulted in Y" or whatever.)  And planting other hints in their minds: "What I find is that people say 'This course taught me things about Basketweaving I had never imagined!"  Evals: "This course taught me things about basketweaving I had never imagined.") 

What is the history of other faculty who have taught this course?  What evals did they get?  Especially the first years they taught it?  It may well be that everyone else accepts that this course is a hit on the evals.  It may be that they know that the score you got is just fine.

Also, not everyone can be an above-average teacher.  Statistically, right?  Some teachers are not prime all-rounders -- they appeal more to the struggling, or more to the high-flyers.  It's okay not to be super-duper-fabulous.  You just have to be willing and open.  You may have seen the articles in the NY Times and elsewhere about the findings that the really good lower-grade teachers don't follow any particular school of teaching; what they do is to watch what works and adapt their teaching little by little over the years.  So they don't get stuck dogmatically in patterns that don't work, and gradually their teaching evolves.  What this demands is a practice of not taking teaching "failures" personally.  Instead of saying, "This didn't work, I worried it wouldn't, this is miserable, I'm terrible at this, I hate this," you say, "Hmm, I need to adjust that next time around, I might try X."  (This requires an iron will, but it's the way successful teachers do it.) 

In short: no self-blame; realize that the low evals are not terrible news; adjust as needed.

[summers_off]

If you haven't already reviewed the Jedi Mind Tricks thread you should.  It sounds like you probably don't need to re-work your materials, except maybe your lectures.   It may be more fruitful to change their attitude instead.

While you state you are explaining the "why" underlying your teaching methods a lot, are you doing it terms of them?  In other words, if you are currently saying:  "I am teaching x first so that you can then understand x-1" you might try say something like:  "I found that when I teach x first, students have a much better foundation in x-1.  This means that when they get to next-course-in-major, they are much more successful."  Or, "Successful people in our field know not only what they get from textbooks, but they also know the current work in xyz journal.  If you start reading it now, I can help you understand how to interpret its arcane language/concepts." 

In addition, you should say things like "I am here to help you succeed in our exciting field!"  "I love introducing people to our meaningful field!"  and "The solid foundation we build together in this class will help you succeed in our terrific field!" in nearly every class.

[mountainguy]

Institutional context is helpful. Does anyone else teach the course? Do you know what/how they are doing? If their expectations are not aligned with yours, that may be a source of some the negativity you're getting from students.

[snowbound]

If your unappreciative students are making you dread teaching this class, be sure that you force yourself NOT to let it show.  Your attitude will be picked up on quickly, if you're not careful.  You gotta look happy to be there--even if you have to fake it.

Could it be that your efforts to improve have been geared exclusively on making you a better teacher?  Yes of course that's important--you want to be a good teacher.  But getting better evals is not precisely the same thing as being a better teacher. 

Check the Jedi Mind Tricks thread.  Here's a couple of things that I did that were effective in raising my evals.

Study the eval questions.  What exactly are they asking students to evaluate?  What phrases are they using? For example, our evals mention things like "critical thinking" and "current critical discourse."  However, many of students don't know what those terms mean and don't have a clue that we're doing them.  So in the weeks leading up to the evals, I'd be sure to use these terms:  "This has been a good discussion today.  You guys are really showing some development of your critical thinking skills."  "Good critical thinking, Tiffany!"  "This writing exercise will help you develop your critical thinking skills."  (This metacognition stuff can actually help students to figure out how to think more deeply, so it's not totally cynical.) Or when discussing various approaches to a text, I'll write "critical discourse" on the board, say in a sentence what it is, and show that that is what we're using.  WHen the students get to those questions on the evals, they'll recognize the term and think "O yeah, we've been doing that quite a lot, I think" even if they're still not sure what it means. 

Our evals also cover having a clear syllabus.  So long as your syllabus is fine, students won't remember it.  Many won't even read it. So talk about the syllabus using the word "clear" (assuming that it is): "I make my syllabus as clear as possible, but if you have any questions, please email me." "The syllabus is very clear on the attendance policy." 

OUr evals ask if teacher is available for consultation . . .  IN the weeks leading up to the evals, mention your office hours several times; write them on the board; stress to students that if those times don't work for them, they can email you to set up a meeting at another time (hardly anyone will take you up on this).   

You get the idea.  Go through each question and see how you can prime the pump.  It doesn't usually involve changing what you do, just changing students' consciousness about what you do.

[imawakenow]

Check the Jedi Mind Tricks thread.  Here's a couple of things that I did that were effective in raising my evals.

Study the eval questions.  What exactly are they asking students to evaluate?  What phrases are they using? For example, our evals mention things like "critical thinking" and "current critical discourse."  However, many of students don't know what those terms mean and don't have a clue that we're doing them.  So in the weeks leading up to the evals, I'd be sure to use these terms:  "This has been a good discussion today.  You guys are really showing some development of your critical thinking skills."  "Good critical thinking, Tiffany!"  "This writing exercise will help you develop your critical thinking skills."  (This metacognition stuff can actually help students to figure out how to think more deeply, so it's not totally cynical.) Or when discussing various approaches to a text, I'll write "critical discourse" on the board, say in a sentence what it is, and show that that is what we're using.  WHen the students get to those questions on the evals, they'll recognize the term and think "O yeah, we've been doing that quite a lot, I think" even if they're still not sure what it means. 

Our evals also cover having a clear syllabus.  So long as your syllabus is fine, students won't remember it.  Many won't even read it. So talk about the syllabus using the word "clear" (assuming that it is): "I make my syllabus as clear as possible, but if you have any questions, please email me." "The syllabus is very clear on the attendance policy." 

OUr evals ask if teacher is available for consultation . . .  IN the weeks leading up to the evals, mention your office hours several times; write them on the board; stress to students that if those times don't work for them, they can email you to set up a meeting at another time (hardly anyone will take you up on this).   

These are really good suggestions that I've also used to improve my evaluation scores the last year and a half (snowbound's distinction between higher evaluation scores and becoming a better or more effective instructor duly noted).

I also think you (OP) are on the right track about asking a trusted senior colleague how teaching is evaluated and discussed in third-year review and tenure cases. In that same discussion, I'd also broach where you are in terms of research. At my lower-ranked R1, they value teaching a surprising amount, but there is also a ceiling effect such that excellent teachers with mediocre to poor publication records won't get tenure.

[navelgazer]

Thanks snowbound, I think those are some especially good tricks to be reminded of. All of my peer reviews have specifically mentioned the clarity of my syllabuses and assignments, but the students give me really low marks for them. I did delegate some of this to my TAs, to avoid sounding too b*tchy, "as Dr. Gazer wrote in the syllabus, you are responsible for work." I need to remind them about this some more.

I will review the Jedi mind tricks.

[snowbound]

Also look at the numerous threads specifically on evals.  Your problem is one of the most discussed on these fora.  The difference between what peer reviews say and what students say definitely indicates that the problem is not poor teaching but rather less-than -optimum eval strategies.

When we think of improving evals, we tend to concentrate on the important things, like how interesting the class is, rather than the smaller administrative-type sh!t like syllabus.  But those admin-type questions quickly add up in terms of overall numbers!  Imagine your average undergrad faced with making a snap decision on whether syllabus is clear . . .  "Syllabus?  Huh? I guess we got one?  What did it say? I don't remember.  Guess I'll just mark the middle bubble [3 out of 5]"  Whereas if the same student had heard you mention the syllabus 6 times in the past two weeks, always coupled with the word "clear," s/he is likely to think,"Syllabus?  Huh?  I don't really remember much except it's supposedly very clear [5 out of 5]"  Do NOT rely on alternative wording like "as Dr Glazer wrote in the syllabus" or delegate to TAs; use the word "clear," repeatedly, if that is the word on the evals.  And you don't need to be saying anything substantive.  It can be something as simple as, "Be sure and do the reading for Monday.  The syllabus very clearly lets you know what chapters are due each week." 

Go through each question on the eval and figure out how you are going to prime the pump, using the wording of the evals as much as possible.

I hope you know not to give evals the same day you collect papers, give a quiz, or give back grades; those are days when students tend to be stressed out and grumpy about the class.  Timing matters.  Try to make it right after you give the class good news: "I'm really pleased with the progress you're making on your group projects.  You're clearly working hard and really learning a lot!" then straight into evals.

How are you using your midterm questionnaires?  They can be a great way to boost eval numbers if you play it right.  Again your mention of them suggests that you are using them to improve your teaching (which is great), but not as a strategic tool.  If you PM me, I will forward a kinda long post on midterm questionnaires (and an example of mine) that I posted a while ago and have forwarded to various people when the topic comes up.

[mountainguy]

I did delegate some of this to my TAs, to avoid sounding too b*tchy, "as Dr. Gazer wrote in the syllabus, you are responsible for work."

Hmmmm. What responsibilities do your TAs have? It could be the case that students perceive you as being unavailable or arbitrary.

[burnie]

If you haven't already reviewed the Jedi Mind Tricks thread you should.  It sounds like you probably don't need to re-work your materials, except maybe your lectures.   It may be more fruitful to change their attitude instead.

While you state you are explaining the "why" underlying your teaching methods a lot, are you doing it terms of them?  In other words, if you are currently saying:  "I am teaching x first so that you can then understand x-1" you might try say something like:  "I found that when I teach x first, students have a much better foundation in x-1.  This means that when they get to next-course-in-major, they are much more successful."  Or, "Successful people in our field know not only what they get from textbooks, but they also know the current work in xyz journal.  If you start reading it now, I can help you understand how to interpret its arcane language/concepts." 

In addition, you should say things like "I am here to help you succeed in our exciting field!"  "I love introducing people to our meaningful field!"  and "The solid foundation we build together in this class will help you succeed in our terrific field!" in nearly every class.

Similarly, prefacing with - "past evaluations have said they wish they had X for the exam, so we're going to do it this way.  Keep in touch with me as we progress as to what is working for you, but know that I'm on your side - I'll do X, but you'll need to do Y to excel."  It seems to help change their attitude.

[navelgazer]

To clarify, I am no longer as worried about the reviews themselves as I am about their affect on my tenure chances. I will continue to try and improve, of course, and I've found the boards very useful. But, I've also reached the point of not really caring because it seems hopeless. (As a bonus, reading evaluations is now easier because, who cares?) I guess I'm wondering how to spin this for my upcoming reviews.

As a weird wrinkle, I was given a University-wide teaching and advising award last year. A *student-nominated* award. So, that should help, right?

I did delegate some of this to my TAs, to avoid sounding too b*tchy, "as Dr. Gazer wrote in the syllabus, you are responsible for work."

Hmmmm. What responsibilities do your TAs have? It could be the case that students perceive you as being unavailable or arbitrary.

I worry about this, too. The class is 100, 110 students, all majors. The TAs lead sections and grade most papers (for the students in their sections). Except for about 10 papers, I grade the exams because the paper grading is a lot of work requiring 1-on-1 meetings, etc.. This year I led the sections one time each, which was super time consuming, but I hoped it would make me seem more approachable. It was somewhat successful, I had more office hour drop-bys than any other year. What also really helped was explaining why I left the room so quickly after class: since I need a lot of time to set up, it is important to me that the next professor gets the full amount of time to prepare her materials. I then started sitting outside the room on a chair, which was one of the best ideas I ever had.

As far as the email example, in the past years I have taken the "bad guy" role because that was what my professors did for us when I was in grad school. So, TAs would email me a question/extension requests and I would email back. This year I rarely did that, unless it was a general email about procedures, etc.. So instead of me saying, "Tom Assistant told me you had a question about due dates. It is April 1, but I wanted to remind you that it is all in the syllabus," this year I had the TAs do it.

[hiddendragon]

Just saw your thread and just wanted to send you some good vibes.  Don't let these students get you down.  You will bring it up next time with lots of Jedi mind tricks.  It appears that whether or not you get tenure won't have much to do with your teaching.  It's the pubs that your colleagues will fear.  It's only when they want to deny you tenure that teaching will become an issue, if it is an issue at all.  The hot star in my dept got tenured without so much as a comment on his teaching evals, which were often below average.  Like you, he taught the required classes for the major and got bad evals all the time.  But he did well in his own specialized courses and published enough to scare the elder colleagues sh*tless.  So, focus on your own specialized courses and upper level courses, and publish.  Don't let this lower level course get you down.

[hegemony]

You haven't mentioned what kind of evals other teachers of this course have had.

I predict it will not affect your chances at tenure at all.  As someone said, it would only affect you if everything was bad and they were determined not to keep you.

One faculty member at my place got tenure despite abysmal evals.  Much support and coaching, much help, and still abysmal.  I was part of the support team and saw this person doing everything wrong: chronically arriving late and disorganized, chewing out students who asked questions, losing student papers frequently, planning way too much for the class period, etc. etc.  Still got tenure.  Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but it is.  So I think you, who sound more improvement-minded and less defensive and disorganized, are a shoo-in.