{"id":1628,"date":"2010-07-19t19:50:21","date_gmt":"2010-07-19t19:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/"},"modified":"2010-07-28t14:35:04","modified_gmt":"2010-07-28t14:35:04","slug":"services-of-the-cft-student-evaluation-consultations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/articles-and-essays\/the-teaching-forum\/services-of-the-cft-student-evaluation-consultations\/","title":{"rendered":"services of the cft: student evaluation consultations"},"content":{"rendered":"

this article was originally published in the fall 2003 issue of the cft’s newsletter, teaching forum. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

by anupama balasubramanian <\/em><\/p>\n

one of the services that the 2022年世界杯中国小组赛积分 offers to the vanderbilt teaching community is the student evaluation consultation. in this section, assistant director peter felten describes his work with these kinds of consultations. <\/em><\/p>\n

when and why do clients seek this service? <\/strong><\/p>\n

faculty and tas typically schedule this kind of consultation after receiving their student evaluations for either the fall or spring semester — in january and may.<\/p>\n

negative evaluations, of course, can motivate someone to talk with the center. nearly as often, however, a faculty member approaches me because she or he is confused about what the evaluations mean <\/em>; for example, the teacher might not have been very happy with the course, but the students rated it highly. occasionally instructors also schedule this type of consultation when they are rethinking a course, such as when a course hasn’t been taught in a while or when the class has been taught so often it seems to be in a rut.<\/p>\n

what happens when someone asks for a student evaluation consultation? <\/strong><\/p>\n

the instructor typically talks with or e-mails a consultant about goals for the consultation, and then drops off a complete set of evaluations at the center. sometimes the instructor also will provide other course materials (a syllabus, copies of exams, and so on). these additional materials can be crucial because evaluations are simply one piece of evidence about teaching and learning in a class.<\/p>\n

the consultant then reads the evaluations and other materials to prepare; this preparation is based, in part, on both the teacher’s goals for the consultation and on the consultant’s experience and knowledge of evaluations.<\/p>\n

the consultation may produce very concrete steps that the teacher can take to change the class (a plan to revise a course, to work on presentation skills, etc.), or it may simply be a time to reflect on the teacher’s thoughts and feelings about a class. for example, sometimes instructors simply want to talk through their thoughts and feelings about a class and\/or a set of evaluations, rather than creating an “action plan.” either approach is fine. and at the end of the consultation the evaluation forms are returned to the client.<\/p>\n

how do you deal with bimodal feedback, and what would be your advice to someone who has had that problem? <\/strong><\/p>\n

when i see bimodal feedback, i ask a few questions:<\/p>\n