The TFSC Co-directors, Julie Trivitt, Lori Holyfield, and Don Johnson led a discussion on the Use of Student Comments in Evaluating Teaching.
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| Julie Trivitt Faculty in Economics |
Lori Holyfield Faculty in Sociology and Criminology |
Don Johnson Faculty in Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology |
The 2019 Annual Faculty Review will be the first time student evaluation of teaching comments will be available to chairs/heads as they evaluate faculty performance. At this luncheon, it was discussed what faculty would like their chair or head to know as they read and interpret these student comments, and then these comments and discussion were turned into a Presentation to be provided to department heads and chairs with some guidance for best practices when reading comments along with two recommended alternatives for chairs to consider.
The discussion started by giving examples of comments given by actual students in the same class. Many of the student comments directly contradicted the comments given by another student.
The tables then discussed the “best” and “meanest” comments that they’d ever received on an evaluation. The best comments were often about how they had really enjoyed the course or how they found the instructor very supportive. The meanest comments, however, took a darker turn. They were generalized about how much they disliked the teacher or they insulted the person based on appearance and some were even threatening.
Due to human nature, often the comments that stick out in our mind the longest are those that are the most negative. It is important to make sure that the appropriate consideration is given to constructive critical feedback
They are also recommending the use of alternate forms of teaching review. Academic Policy 1405.11 gives lots of suggestions for alternatives that you can submit alongside your standard classroom reviews. You can always give them a self-review. For instance, if you tried something new and it didn’t go as well as you would have liked and that experience affected your reviews then you can give information about what you tried and how what you learned from that is going to influence your teaching in the future. 
If you would like more information on how to incorporate technology into your courses, reach out to us at tips@uark.edu.
For more information on this subject, you can email the presenters.
This content was developed from a discussion led by Julie Trivitt, Lori Holyfield, and Don Johnson which was sponsored by The Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center (TFSC) at the University of Arkansas.