Student Evaluation Form: Fill & Download for Free

There have been a range of studies of student ratings of teachers. Findings have included:Male teachers consistently get higher average ratings from students than female teachers, even when courses are administered identically (e.g. Study says students rate men more highly than women even when they're teaching identical courses)When the gender of teachers is hidden (text-only teaching), male and female teachers who have been randomly assigned male names consistently get higher ratings than teachers randomly assigned female names. (e.g. http://www.utstat.toronto.edu/reid/sta2201s/gender-teaching.pdf)Student ratings of teachers are not related to how much students learn (e.g. Meta-analysis of faculty's teaching effectiveness: Student evaluation of teaching ratings and student learning are not related) but they are related to the grades students get (i.e. students give teachers good ratings when they receive good grades, not when they have learned something).So no, it’s not a particularly good idea.

My students at the time thought it was a big mystery, but I and the other teachers all knew it was coming, we were just staying quiet about it out of respect.It was over Christmas break several years ago. The teacher in question was an older gentleman who should have retired before it got as bad as it did for him, but I think he needed a reason to wake up and feel useful every morning. He had no wife or kids and I think his job was all he had going for him.The previous summer, our old principal… the one who hired this teacher some 40 years earlier… retired and a new, younger, more energetic principal took their place. That new principal inherited the entire faculty for the next year… the contracts had already been signed.There was friction between the new principal and the older teacher immediately. At our summer meetings, the new principal introduced a new online teacher evaluation form that we had to complete every month. It was a little complicated and seemed pointless to all of us, but we were told to do it, so we did.Except the older teacher. He sat in the meetings and refused to touch the computer in front of him. He’d always had a strong anti-technology tendency in class.Over the next few months, the new principal made several other changes, most of which we all thought were positive changes, and all of which the old teacher refused to participate in. He just kept doing what he’d been doing for the previous 40 years.By November of that year, the decision had been made that he had to go. At his request, he was allowed to stay until Christmas break, so he could use the break to clean out his room and still have time for his replacement to move into the room. He also requested that no students be told he was leaving, and that this would be listed as a mid-year retirement for medical reasons, not that he was being fired.I ended up helping him move some of his stuff out of his room over Christmas break.When the students returned, they all asked about him. All the teachers would say was that “he retired.” The students thought it was odd that he’d do that in the middle of the school year.

A student in that situation could try a couple of thingsAttend office hours. See if additional time getting used to the professor’s speech patterns helps.Ask the professor if they could use a microphone or speak a bit slower. Sometimes even a slight lapse of audibility makes a big difference.Write a very polite note to the department chair saying that you’re having trouble understanding the professor — and you request that someone might visit the class to listen and see whether the professor needs to use a microphone or speak a little slower in order to be clearer. If someone visits, they will likely diagnose what’s going on.Get permission to record the lectures or see if a video exists. Rewatch the video on a slower speed and see if that helps.If this isn’t resolved by the end of the term, mention it in the course evaluation form you fill out.The student should also honestly ask themselves whether they are making a strong enough effort to understand the professor. In today’s global economy, we all need to be a bit flexible.