The nastiest student evaluation I ever got was while visiting Berkeley, teaching an undergraduate summer course on Algorithms:
"Why does Berkeley always have to hire incompetent foreign immigrants who can't speak English to teach its summer courses?"
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The most memorable student evaluation I ever got was in France, the following (anonymous, of course):
"The lectures are quite interesting, but they would be even more interesting if the instructor dressed better."
It was a mid-semester evaluation. At the following lecture, I read the comment aloud to the class and saw one student in the back turning bright red. So much for anonymity!
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Once at Brown, being away at a conference, I asked a TA to teach a lecture for me. After my return, I asked the students to fill out evaluations of and feedback on his lecture. Here is the most remarkable comment he got (anonymous, of course):
"X. is so great. I want to have a child from him."
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I really had a lot of fun with your post. We students might be even more funnier :)
ReplyDeleteThe first comment has a part of the the truth:
ReplyDelete"Why does Berkeley always have to hire incompetent foreign immigrants who can't speak English to teach its summer courses?"
Only immigrant workers with several degrees (I have 2 M.S. and a Ph.D.) accept these miserable jobs (most of the time: visiting professor positions) where we have to teach these unmotivated customers (the students) who were agressively recruited by professional marketeers (the administrators). When a student accuses falsely the instructor (s/he does not help me, it is too difficult, or whatever), the instructor NEVER receives the support of the department (they never bother to verify if the complaint, whatever it is - is true/valid). Why would they? Just hire another instructor for the next fall, one that will make ALL the students happy with good grades (this is also called grade inflation).
"Ms 13 years of experience in North America!"
To Anonymous who posted September 11, 2011 3:15 PM,
ReplyDeleteYes this is TRUE. I am experiencing the same (I am reaching CS), it is my 11th year of teaching in North America. I am hired to teach the courses the tenured faculty do not want to teach, and very often those are new preparations because the course was never taught before.
Students often complain as a way of getting systematically good grades that they do not deserve. They also spend a lot of the class time using their phone, read their emails and facebook account. Don't tell them they are not listening because they will retaliate immediately (you'll get an email from the department chair).
Not to mention the job satisfaction you get from reading the student evaluations (aka "teaching evaluations"), because students know how you should teach, of course.