Posting #3
Topic: Education
Title of Article: Feedback from Students Becomes a Campus Staple, but Some Go Further
Author: Tamar Lewin
Publication Name: NY Times
Date of Publication: March 28, 2012
Length of Article: 1,162 words
MAIN IDEAS:
Muhammad Zaman, a Boston University biomedical engineering professor, passes out anonymous evaluations every other Monday to his students and asks them to rate him and the course on a scale of 1 to 5. The survey also asks other questions such as, "How can the professor improve your learning of the material?" "Has he improved his teaching since his last evaluation?" Zaman then collects the results from the surveys and presents them in a graph, then emails his class about any changes he plans to make according to their comments. He then starts the following class by discussing the feedback and any changes.
Zaman acknowledges that "A lot of college teaching is not very good, and everybody knows it". He also states that the traditional evaluations at the end of the courses (which most teachers do) does not benefit the evaluator, so he finds it would be more helpful to do frequent evaluations throughout the course. When Zaman first started the evaluations, he was averaging 3's on the 5 point scale, but he has since improved and is now averaging 4's and 5's. This is proof of how the frequent evaluations have positively impacted Zaman's style of teaching, and how the evaluations have also improved Zaman's ability to help his students.
Zaman is not the only teacher using a frequent feedback loop to improve his teaching. At Columbia University's Teacher College, professor Lee Knefelkamp passes out index cards to her pupils every other week, asking on one side "What's working for you?" and on the other, "Of what are you needful?" Dr. Knelfelkamp also says that the feedback is very helpful as it can help colleagues catch things they overlooked, hear from shy students and spur students to reflect on their learning.
CONCLUSION:
It seems that routine evaluations, especially in colleges, are helping professors like Zaman better tailor their teaching methods to the class's needs. This in turn results in a more helpful environment and hopefully better grades for the students. It also allows professors to accurately do their job - to really teach students and make sure that they are learning the material. It's a win-win situation either way, the students' learning needs are met, and the professors have the satisfaction of knowing that they are doing a good job (and the benefit of knowing that the students like them).
OPINION:
I think it is clever of Zaman to realize that end-of-course evaluations don't really do much to help the class. Also, it's great that even tho he has tenure, he continues to try and improve his teaching in order to help more students. I also like how he graphs the survey results instead of keeping them to himself and shows the class what he plans to do to improve.
This approach, while small and local, is an important step towards more expansive education reform, an action that is gravely needed in this country. Sometimes teachers can't figure out why students are inattentive and dislike their class. It is clear, as Julia points out, that an end-of-the-year evaluation is worthless. A weekly evaluation system is the perfect solution and a valuable asset to any teacher, as evidenced in its implementation. Professor Zaman has been able to improve his teaching - it is a win-win situation: the students are more engaged in the course and he is able to do his job more efficiently.
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