Feedback from Students
The role of different forms of evidence/feedback from students
Under Construction!
Assessing your own teaching involves getting feedback from students. This takes many forms:
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inviting students to comment on your teaching performance or skills or on the learning environment in a specific course -- both at the end of the semester AND during the semester (while there's still a chance to do something about it!); and
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assessing what students have learned as a result of your efforts (in the context of your teaching objectives), both in their own views and by more objective measures (see also Products of Teaching).
Following the format of teaching portfolios more generally, the evaluations may be formative (for development or improvement) or summative (for evaluation).
A common measure is:
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End-of-course student evaluations: There are important contexts for interpreting these evaluations, based on extensive research about their effectiveness. Also, there is the challenge of summarizing student evaluations over time and comparing across different types of courses and students. A graph of quantitative evaluations over time can tell a story more effectively than a table or several sheets of numbers, for example.
One might also consider other forms of evidence, both direct and indirect. Consider, for example:
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Interviews of students by other faculty -- either singly or as a group.
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Letters from students -- both unsolicited and solicited. (Students often do not have experience in articulating their perceptions clearly or in a form that is valuable for potential reviewers. Some generally recognized guidelines may be appropriate.)
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Ratings in student-edited course guides. Comments may be important in characterizing the nature of the rating ("cake course," intellectually stimulating, motivational, etc.)
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Records of students who elect to take a second (elective) course with the same teacher
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Records of students who change fields, majors or careers based on an individual teacher
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Student-based teaching awards (again, profile of the selection process may be important context)
Long-Term Analysis
An important measure of one's impact or influence is long-term, yet we are not generally organized to collect this data. The individual teacher, however, can identify several student volunteers and track them long-term. One model recommends targeting one outstanding, one poor and one average student from each class. Alternatively, one may contact alumni who were students many years ago, and ask for assessments.
Bibliography
Stephen D. Brookfield. 1995. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
---- See chapters 5-6 on seeing ourselves through the lens of our students' eyes (a powerful metaphor itself).
Shore, Bruce, et al. 1991. The Teaching Dossier: Its Preparation and Use. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Association of University Teachers.
---- See Part 4 (pp.13-23) for descriptions, rationales and examples of portfolio items from students.