Opinion: Grading the Graders: Do course evaluations really make a difference?

Avery Hill

Editor

As summer unfolds and Wingate students return home to dive into internships and summer jobs, the course evaluations they completed are quietly shaping the upcoming fall semester.

After four months of being critiqued, evaluated and assessed Wingate students have gotten the opportunity to flip the script and evaluate their professors. For some this is the perfect opportunity to relay every grievance that has been on their mind for the past four months in complete anonymity. This is their time to shine.

For others course evaluations are simply a box to check, a mindless task to complete before the semester ends. Another tedious digital form that must be filled out before they are released from the shackles of a dragging spring semester. Many do not complete them at all.  

The evaluations themselves ask students to rank their professors on a one-to-five scale covering a variety of topics ranging from general questions about the course to specific questions about professors’ availability and personal teaching style. The evaluations also feature a written section where students can leave various comments about their experiences in the course whether good or bad. 

 Wingate seemingly takes the course evaluation season quite seriously as demonstrated by the flood of messages students received through email and Canvas reminding them to fill out their course surveys. 

“Course evaluations are being conducted, and your feedback is important,” the message read. 

Skepticism on course evaluations amongst students is certainly not uncommon. Often curriculum and teaching styles seem to be unchanged from year to year and professors seemingly can go decades instructing in outdated and ineffective ways without any measurable reforms. Students wonder if the feedback they leave actually reaches the individuals needed to enact needed change. 

Perhaps a dying breed but there are professors who not only read their course evaluations but take steps to actively mold their classrooms to better meet the needs of students. There is a reason that course evaluations exist and in part they exist because they work, at least in a small way.

Dr. Todd Griffin, who teaches various levels of chemistry and mathematics at Wingate University said that he has certainly changed his approach to teaching after reading some constructive feedback left by students. 

“I take course evaluations seriously,” Griffin said. “It is a good way to get feedback on what works and doesn’t work for students.  For one particular math class, I received very similar feedback from a few students about how I use homework.

 I was using a lot of different problems because I thought repetition was good, however, students said they didn’t have time to absorb and understand the problems. I switched to using a few questions and giving students multiple attempts to get the right answer. Once they understood the concept (getting a 100 on the homework) I gave multiple examples for practice. Then, I incorporated quizzes to reinforce the topic.  This seemed to improve student outcomes. So I guess quality over quantity is better after all.” 

Sometimes, however, the criticism can go too far. Thanks to the anonymous nature of course evaluations some students have used them as dumping grounds for their resentment. It is easy to see how quickly something that was once meant for positive construction quickly turns mean-spirited and morphs into a platform for venting frustration. 

It is up to professors to decide which reviews are made with the intention of genuinely helping to evolve the class and which are made by disgruntled students who received a less than satisfactory grade. 

Dr. Brie Leggat Johnson, an assistant professor of education at Wingate is learning how to compartmentalize the different types of evaluations she gets each semester.

“Since the feedback is anonymous, I can’t be sure whether or not it’s biased, so I have to take everything into consideration,” Johnson said. “In fact, in our faculty annual evaluations, all student feedback is considered, whether it may be biased or not. This means that all student feedback, biased or not, impacts my ability to maintain my job and seek tenure and promotion. That being said, I can sometimes surmise that feedback was emotionally driven or biased if there is one score that is consistently low amongst high scores. For example, I may get a 1 in all categories, but my other scores are 4’s and 5’s in every category. This leads me to guess that one student wasn’t happy. This helps me emotionally understand why this may have happened, but I still want to consider that person’s thoughts professionally. I respectfully request that every student leave a comment if they assign a score on the high or low end of the scale. This helps me understand why I got the score I did. If you didn’t like it, tell me why, so I can make a change.”

Dr. Tarra Ellis who serves as the dean of education at Wingate stresses an “all press is good press” philosophy to evaluations. 

“Feedback at all is helpful,” Ellis said. “Most students don’t complete course evaluations. Then some students only complete them if they have had a bad experience with a professor. Professors who are doing things well also need to know what they are doing well or things that students find particularly helpful or meaningful. It’s also helpful when a student brings something to my attention of which I may not be aware that was unintentional or something that could have been misinterpreted. Then I will know to handle it better or communicate more clearly next time. The more specific the feedback, the better. If an incident happened on an off day or a bad day, that may not warrant low ratings, but if it’s something that was consistent or a pattern, it should be brought to the professor’s and their supervisor’s attention on the evaluation.”

Dr. Candace Lapan who teaches psychology at Wingate believes that while students’ evaluations should be considered, their input is not informed by years of experience and education and does not tell the whole story.

“While students can certainly speak to things like their rapport with professors and the positive feelings they have about their class, they also are not experts in pedagogy,” Lapan said. “So they may not understand or appreciate why faculty use particular approaches to teaching and assessment, whereas faculty may be using them because they are evidence-based approaches. 

That all said, I think we can use student evaluations as one component of evaluating a faculty member’s teaching, but that they should be understood in context and designed thoughtfully to assess the things that students would be best able to evaluate.”

Feeling unrepresented in college seems to just be a part of the “college experience.” Students and even faculty often complain that their voices are not being heard on a variety of issues. 

In an ideal society the united concerns of a group of students should effectuate real and lasting reform. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world and often the voices of not just students but people everywhere are drowned out by entrenched systems that have been in place for years and are reluctant to shift. 

So, do course evaluations really make a difference?

The answer is a cautious yes. While students who leave feedback may not be able to reap the direct fruits of their reviews, professors and administrators like Dr. Lapan, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Griffin and Dr. Ellis are listening and willing to evolve. Simply their openness to adapt, demonstrates that thoughtful evaluations can spark change. 

Still nothing will change however if you as the student are silent. Course evaluations are more than just a form, they are your voice. Help enact the change you want not just for yourself but for the thousands of students who will walk the halls of Wingate long after you are gone.