T. E. Roberts,
Instructor • USF Sarasota-Manatee
Course Evaluations
By Students • Fall 2003 through Summer 2011
Page updated 23 January 2012
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Clicking
on the link at the bottom of this page will result in downloading a
compressed (zipped) document containing evaluations of courses by my students
from Fall 2003 to Fall 2010 in Adobe PDF format. The combined evaluations
since Fall 2003 represent a large file (around 30 MB). Links are also
provided for evaluations from individual semesters as single PDF files.
Except for minor editing for formatting and PDF creation, these match exactly
the content of the original USF evaluation results. Each
evaluation consists of two parts: 1) statistical results of a questionnaire about the course
(“best” = 5.0), and 2) anonymous comments by individual students. Beginning
with the Summer 2008 evaluations, I sometimes provide a brief response to
selected student comments in order to address a student’s confusion or to
correct an obvious misunderstanding. Certain
realities remain constant through the student comments over the years: the
students who believe they benefited from a course tended to: 1) read
and carefully follow instructions 2) try
hard to improve their work 3)
communicate regularly with the instructor 4)
regard instructor feedback as a professional, not personal, review of their
work, and 5) treat
the learning experience, the instructor, and their classmates with respect. A NOTE
ABOUT COMMENTS Anonymity
obviously is a two-edged sword. It provides confidentiality but may also
violate an individual’s right to due process. Students
are asked to be fair, honest, and unbiased in their appraisals of the course
and the instructor. However, based on research conducted by me and other
faculty members over the years, it is obvious that most students who write
negative appraisals have never sought individual conferences with the
instructor. Many of them are simply disgruntled with the grade they earned
and, instead of taking responsibility for their own performance, like to
blame circumstances, fate, the instructor, or anything else that lets them
off the hook. In my
judgment, the university has instituted a well-considered process for the
filing of formal student grievances (http://www.sarasota.usf.edu/Academics/Catalogs/UG/USFSM_ug1011.pdf,
pages 48-52). The first step is for a student to confer directly and
personally with his or her instructor. This usually results in the settling
of any misunderstanding, and this procedure should in fact apply in any
disagreement between a student and an instructor. In the
absence of such a conference (especially in online courses where most
communications occur via email), it is easy for a student to feel slighted
because he or she is simply unhappy with a grade. This happens occasionally
with people who think of themselves as “A students” but who earn a B+ or
other, in their view, unsatisfactory grade. If such a student has never
bothered to discuss the evaluation of an assignment at the time it is
submitted and graded, the resentment at the end of a term over an “unfair”
final grade may lead to an unfounded negative appraisal of an instructor or a
course. In fairness,
the student should first accept individual responsibility for the outcome of
his or her performance in a course. This is
one reason that I emphasize that a student EARNS a grade based on
performance. The instructor DOES NOT “GIVE” a grade. The following passage
from each syllabus should be kept in mind: Advice
About Grades: A grievance
will not automatically or necessarily result in a change of grade for
an assignment or a course. In more than 44 years of teaching thousands of
college students, two of
my students have filed formal grievances (1974 and 1997), and in both cases
my original grade and teaching approach were upheld by a grievance committee
of students and faculty. I take seriously my
duty to be not only a competent and effective teacher but also to help you succeed,
not fail. If you believe I am not meeting your objectives as a student, talk
with me. I will listen to your perspective and seek a mutually satisfying
solution to problems. Any student who writes an anonymous negative review of
my teaching or course content at the end of a term but who has never talked with
me in person, by phone, or by email, about specific issues lacks credibility.
Such a person demonstrates immaturity, ignorance, and indifference regarding
professional and ethical standards of conduct. The time to focus
on your grade, if you worry about such a thing, is during the term, not at
the end after you receive the final grade calculation. Students who complain
about final grades but who have made little if any sincere effort to excel on
each assignment or to communicate with me individually should not be
surprised at a weak final grade. You have several written assignments and a
final exam to build a satisfactory final grade. You also have the option of
receiving a detailed markup and performing a complete revision of all but the
final assignment. Contrary to many
students’ view, a grade is earned by you, not given by me. Your job is to
perform as well as possible. My job is to evaluate your performance fairly,
based on experience, judgment, and workplace expectations. There is nothing
personal in this process; it is simply a matter of defining, applying, and
meeting professional criteria. I am not judging your appearance, gender,
sexual preference, ethnicity, philosophy, politics, religion, personal
values, or social status. I am interested only in your academic performance
and your demonstrated improvement thereof. Please don’t ask
for a grade to be “rounded” to a higher mark. The grading system is designed
to record your achievement accurately to three decimal places, so the effect
of rounding has already been considered. Grades are calculated by the
Blackboard system, but if you believe a mathematical error has occurred,
notify me immediately. Read carefully and
repeatedly the definitions of grades in this syllabus so you have a clear
understanding of the standards that students are expected to meet. If you are
confused, simply ask me for clarification. Don’t substitute guesswork for
knowledge. As a
faculty member, I take neither positive nor negative evaluations personally,
but I do try to use them to improve the course presentations in the future.
The following statement sums up well the shallowness and unscientific nature
of course evaluations by students: “Basing education research and instructor
performance assessment entirely on student evaluations is like basing
clinical drug trials entirely on patient reports of how they feel.” (http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/08/08/carey) USEFUL
REFLECTIONS FROM THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION I
recommend the Feb. 20, 2011 article from The Chronicle of Higher Education titled “A Perfect Storm in
Undergraduate Education, Part I,” which discusses student assessments and
student learning challenges (see this link). Another relevant
article, also in The Chronicle of Higher Education, is this commentary titled “From Students, A Misplaced Sense of
Entitlement” (March 27, 2011). This Chronicle article is similarly useful: “Student
Evaluations, Grade Inflation, and Declining Student Effort” (June 19,
2010). And the most recent Chronicle article I recommend offers an interesting perspective
from a teacher who becomes a student: “Professor
as Student: A Gym Perspective” (Aug. 9, 2011) -- note in particular the
yellow-highlighted comments following this article; they sum up a view of
teaching that I find very similar to my own. LINKS
TO DOWNLOADABLE EVALUATIONS OF MR. ROBERTS’ COURSES BY USFSM STUDENTS The dates
below correspond to the semester or session in which the courses were
presented. These include the following:
Fall 2003 (1.8
MB) Spring 2004
(1.8 MB) Summer 2004
(1.2 MB) Fall 2004 (2.5
MB) Spring 2005
(3.0 MB) Summer 2005
(1.0 MB) Fall 2005
(2.4 MB) Spring 2006
(3.4 MB) Summer 2006
(1.1 MB) Fall 2006
(1.0 MB) Spring 2007
(292 KB) Summer 2007
(1.1 MB) Fall 2007
(772 KB) Spring 2008
(1 MB) Summer 2008
(276 KB) Fall 2008 (2
MB) Spring 2009
(2.4 MB) Summer 2009
(728 KB) Fall 2009
(1.3 MB) Spring 2010
(256 KB) Summer 2010
(708 KB) Fall 2010
(152 KB) Spring 2011
(152 KB) Summer 2011
(196 KB) Fall 2011
(272 KB) All Evaluations of T.
Roberts To Date (25 semesters/sessions, 1100+ students, through Fall
2011, single zipped file, 30.6 MB) NOTE: For numeric
evaluation scores of all USF faculty, see https://fair.usf.edu/Custom/usf/EvaluationMart/EvaluationSearch.aspx To
contact Mr. Roberts, please send email to tr[at]sar.usf.edu. |