Teaching evaluation at Tech

There is a subset of students at Michigan Tech with a peculiar problem. These students, who I will henceforth refer to as “The Idealists,” believe in democratic, widespread and systematic change. The Idealists thoughtfully and dutifully fill out their teaching evaluations at the end of each semester, unsure but hopeful that something positive will be produced out of their honesty. The Idealists are active on campus. They are service-oriented, and, on the whole, they are appreciative for the opportunities that college has afforded them. They are “good kids,” and they are generally happy. The peculiar problem with The Idealists is that what makes them good also makes them resentful. They grow weary of waiting for change. With each semester, filling out teaching evaluations becomes just a little bit harder. By the time they graduate, little faith remains. I am the prototypical Idealist. At one point, I lost my faith in the system. I became skeptical of teaching evaluations. I, like many students I know, began to believe that I was screaming into the

void each time I submitted one of those tiresome surveys. As a result of my resentment, I decided something had to be done. I joined the Center for Teaching and Learning as an intern. Once inside, my eyes were opened to the true importance of teaching evaluations. Today, I seek to open your eyes as well. When a student submits a teaching evaluation, the instructor is able to read the entirety of that evaluation, but the student remains anonymous. Have no fear of submitting an honest evaluation – you cannot and will not be penalized for your submission. (That being said, I urge you to be kind. Instructors have feelings, too.) Your evaluations will not be reviewed prior to finals week. There is no possible way for an evaluation to impact your grade. So, fire away, pals. Additionally, the department chair is able to see all of the quantitative information on the evaluation. The department chair uses this quantitative information to track instructor performance over the years. So, while you may not ever see the results of your submissions, students down the line will immensely benefit from your submission. One aspect of teaching evaluations that I personally

his decision. At first this may sound inspiring but at the same time it seems farcical. If you have a bad deal with your job you just quit it. If you have a bad deal with your marriage you just divorce. If you are hopeless you just end your life. Seriously, these are not good enough reasons for you to end the process of life. Whether it’s a good deal or a bad deal if you have a larger purpose everything is a stepping stone. Everything is a stepping stone for your ultimate well-being if you have set the larger goal. Every situation that you get into you are getting so identified and caught up with it, now it feels like it’s better to end your life. Anyway, this is all hogwash because today if something is going wrong you want to end your life; tomorrow morning something is going right and you want to live; you want to have your third baby, you

want to get married once again, you want to work again. If things are going a little better tomorrow morning you will have plans but if everything looks bleak – you think of suicide, don’t you? The way we look at life is so frivolous; I think today’s generation needs to upgrade its approach to life. Alright, but euthanasia is different. There is a fine line between suicide and assisted suicide. When, in complete consciousness, you know that there is no way agony can be mitigated or the patient can be brought back to senses, to liberate a person or not should be left with the ones concerned and other people should not have any take on it. After all, every human being deserves a humane death, and thus euthanasia should not be considered a crime. This argument will continue for many years to come, nevertheless, it’s important to have empathy and be active in teaching others about euthanasia. This is the least we can do.

find counterproductive is the fact that department chairs cannot view the qualitative information on the evaluations, but this is a detail that could potentially be changed in the future through a process of respectful activism on the part of The Idealists. Performance reviews for instructors are based on a number of factors, but the most important of these factors is teaching evaluations. In all departments, teaching evaluations must account for 50 percent of the performance review. The other 50 percent is determined on a departmental basis. When you submit a teaching evaluation, you’re contributing valuable information that department chairs can use to help your instructors improve for the future. Teaching evaluations play a role in monetary compensation, promotions and tenure. So, what happens to instructors who score low? For most of my undergraduate career, I was under the impression that nothing at all happened, which was the primary source of my resentment. This is a common misconception. Low scorers are required to meet with their department chair to create a plan for improvement. Failure to implement the plan in the coming school year, resulting

in a new set of unfavorable evaluations, can lead to changes in salary, withholding of tenure, or, in some very serious cases, termination. The evaluation system is flawed. I know that better than anyone. I’ve been working for the last two semesters to try to find ways to improve it. But please don’t give up on it, Idealists. You are more needed than you know. Try to remember that the changes you wish to see at Michigan Tech may be occurring behind the scenes; slow, but profound in their impact. With your support, we can enhance the evaluation system and create supplementary resources for instructors who are truly interested in improving. It just requires hope.