No kid likes their teacher. This is especially evident in lower grades starting from kindergarten to around 6th or 7th grade. Kids hate the teacher’s instructions as they are to be followed without much choice and always seem redundant. Going against the taught methods is like moon in the daylight. Nevertheless, school teachers work so hard to educate us and even keep individual track of our development. But seriously, we are never matured enough to evaluate our teachers as an elementary or a middle school student. We hate them but we need them. Everybody needs guidance when they are in an unknown territory. Parents and teachers were our guides then. As we go through higher grades we realize the importance of the academic world and some are even capable of practicing self-study. Teachers don’t have enough time to look into every student’s progress. They just come, teach and go.
Basically, they are no longer a teacher and appear as an instructor. They have their own research work to do which takes up a lot of their time and is justified. But just as a good dancer need not be a good choreographer, a good scholar need not be a good teacher. And here comes this idea of a good instructor and a bad instructor. Nowadays, colleges facilitate feedback. Students are asked to assess the quality of the professor based on their performance. But this evaluation is just based on a questionnaire, either online or in class. Someone has to answer yes or no in front of a common set of characteristics followed by that one question: what would you like to change in the coursework or teaching method? This process is insane. We all know what a waste such surveys are as hardly any action is taken and that’s mainly because it limits the researcher’s understanding of the respondent’s answer. Another reason might be the lack of interest.
By that I mean an institute makes a lot of investment while hiring a teaching professional and when it receives a negative review from its students then it is absolutely hard on their part to suddenly change anything. Another important thing to observe is that these surveys are taken just when the term is about to be over. This instills a sense of fear among the students as they feel the professor will be made cognizant of their honest responses and this will impact their grades. And thus, these responses do not reflect the true image of that professor from a student’s perspective. In short, there is no freedom to express.
This has to stop somewhere. I think different methods should be incorporated if the academic committee or the concerned authority indubitably wants to appreciate the response of the students. This process should be interactive and not dissociated. This may include a wing of authority sitting with the students and asking questions one by one to get answers with a majority. This way a student will feel free to express his or her views about the instructor. Responses will be clever, well thought of and not cursory. Allowing the class to provide a day to day update about the teaching methods, class activities, course completion and general behavior can also be looked upon if time is an issue. Once the data or the responses have been gathered the committee should sit with the professor to discuss the issues and how to correct them or whether they can indeed be corrected.
Together, these processes should start halfway into the term and not during the term end. I know that whether faculty should be given such high assessment powers is debatable, I believe such surveys are capable enough of creating significant changes in the academic institutes only for the good. In fact, the class should be asked to come up with new methods of evaluation. This gauging process is free more flexible and will be relevant.
