rating the professor ta & pff workshop– spring 2011 artze-vega
TRANSCRIPT
RATING THE PROFESSORTA & PFF Workshop– Spring 2011Artze-Vega
Workshop overview
Historical ContextStudent Evaluations
The Teaching Portfolio
HISTORY OF TEACHING EVALUATION
60s: Conducted primarily in response to student demands for accountability70s: Developmental reasons80s & 90s: Driven by administrative needsRecently: National interest in improving undergraduate education, public demand for accountability, legal demands for improved teaching evaluation, and faculty demands (Ory, 2000 )
SOURCES OF INFORMATION ABOUT TEACHING
Source Examples
Students •Student evaluations•Interviews with students•Long-term follow-up of students
Peer Review •Classroom visits•Colleague evaluation of materials
Self Reflection •Teaching activities, reports, & self-reviews•Measures of student achievement
*From UCLA’s Office of Instructional development
STUDENT EVALUATIONS
What do you think of them?
Why?
Mark Edmundson
“Edmundson: one to five, stand and shoot” (p. 39).
Edmundson, M. (1997, September). On the uses of a liberal education. Harper’s Magazine, 39-49
Common Critiques, Thoughts, & Concerns
They rate only student satisfaction (as in customer service)
Research says: SETs are legitimate indicators of student satisfaction which is in turn linked to effective teaching
It’s a personality contest
Research says: “Students want instructors who know what they are talking about and who also care about them…Neither the stand-up comic with no content expertise nor the cold-fish expert with only content expertise receives the highest ratings consistently” (Ory, 2001, p.4).
Common Critiques, Thoughts, & Concerns
Related to class size & instructor genderResearch says: “Not a serious source of bias”
(Cashin, 1992); no significant relationship Not valid
Research says: This debate was over in the 1980s. (See Ory, 2001 for a succinct summary of the validity debate) Linked to instructor characteristics (rank, age, research productivity) Research says: minimal impact
Factors Known to Influence Student Ratings
Electives vs. required courses (strongest variable)
Professor vs. TA (higher for faculty members)
Course level (higher ratings in higher-level courses)
Discipline (not large, but consistent differences). In descending order: Arts and Humanities; Biological and
Social Sciences; Business; Computer Science; Math; Engineering; Physical Science
Grades: Yes, those expecting high grades give higher ratings, but does not mean it’s because instructors are giving away grades; could be that students feel they learned a lot & thus deserve a high grade
Informal Student Evaluations
Ratemyprofessors.com
Includes more than 6.8 million ratings for over 1 million instructors from over 6,000 different colleges across the U.S.Students consider them more honest and more representativeSome evidence that poor evals. linked to poor gradesOne study found them strongly correlated with standard evals.
Informal Student Evaluations
Fast Feedback“Intended to provide some objective information about your
class and to identify areas for improvement in a quick & efficient manner” (Courter, 1994-7).
Mid-semester EvaluationsSimilar to end-of-term evals.
Sample forms of both: http://www.engr.wisc.edu/services/elc/tahand.pdf
THE TEACHING PORTFOLIO
Why would you
want to develop
one?
What is a Teaching Portfolio?
“A coherent set of materials that represents your teaching practice as related to student learning” (Sorcinelli, 2000).
“A description of a professor’s major strengths and teaching achievements. It describes documents and materials which collectively suggest the scope and quality of a professor’s teaching performance” (Seldin, 1997).
Common Components
Teaching experience & responsibilities
Teaching philosophy & goals
Teaching methods & strategies
Activities undertaken to improve teaching
Goals & plans for the future
Supporting documents
The Teaching Philosophy
“A self-reflective statement of your beliefs about teaching and learning. In addition to general comments, your teaching philosophy should discuss how you put your beliefs into practice by including concrete examples of what you do or anticipate doing in the classroom.”
From http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/tutorials/philosophy/index.html
Another definition: “A purposeful and reflective essay about the author’s teaching beliefs and practices. It is an individual narrative that includes not only one’s beliefs about the teaching and learning process, but also concrete examples of the ways in which he or she enacts these beliefs in the classroom.
At its best…gives a clear and unique portrait of the author as a teacher, avoiding generic or empty philosophical statements about teaching. They are also effective exercises in helping one clearly and coherently conceptualize his or her approaches to and experiences of teaching and learning.”
From www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/reflecting/philosophy.htm
Questions to Help You Get Started
Great sample teaching philosophy statements available athttp://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/teaching/forms/Sample%20Teaching%20Statements%20(ALL).pdf
What are your objectives as a teacher?What sets you apart as a teacher?How would an outside observer describe your teaching?What specific skills and knowledge should students gain in the classroom?What teaching methods do you consider most effective? Why?How do/will you measure your own effectiveness as an educator?What motivates you to teach?How do you motivate students?
Avoiding Common Teaching Portfolio Mistakes
Including too much material Inserting it in raw form
Solution: Think of the portfolio as an argument.
*From Mues & Sorcinelli (2000)
Peer/supervisor Observations
Questions & Future Events
Questions???
Future Events:TA Development
Working with Overwhelmed College Students Thursday, March 24th, 3p.m.; location: Newman Alumni
Center Conference Room
PFFAssessment 101
Monday, April 4th & Thursday, April 7th, 3-4:30; location: Newman Alumni Center Conference Room