Student Evaluations of Faculty

[NotTenured]

I have taught in more that one nursing education institution and with a variety of student populations. My experience everywhere has been that nursing students tend to be somewhat harsh and critical evaluators of faculty, as opposed to students from other majors. I have some theories about this, primarily I think we tend to admit students who are less well prepared academically than other majors and then proceed to expect them to perform well in an intense, rigorous, stressful program of study. Subsequently, students project their frustrations and anger onto faculty at end-of-term evaluation time. I have posted here to ask if anyone else has made note of this phenomenon and what opinions are. As a member of our faculty from another department said: "those nurses are a hard-sell, I feel like I'm in the cross-hairs all the time". The Dean of our college has pointed to the less-than-average numbers and commented on the data in regard to using it for decision-making about the viability of our program. Comments??

[valmor1984]

lol. Are so incompetent that we are unable to answer basic questions? The evaluation questions hardly leave room for subjectivity.

Perhaps if you posted your comments in clear, basic English, your point might be easier to ascertain.

As it is, I must assume that you are a student, attempting to make a comment that disagrees with the OP.

[Altered]

Yes, I am challenging the post. Students are asked to evaluate instructors on a continum. One question asks the students to rate the specific instructor R/T other instructors. However, the remaining questions focus on the availability of the instructor and his/her effectiveness.

Keep in mind that students evaluate multiple instructors and not every faculty member, all of whom participate in grading, receive poor evaluations. Consider the number of evaluations as well. One negative response isn't quite an afront to your teaching capabilities as larger group would be.

If the source of poor evals were truely R/T prior instructors, wouldn't you expect a higher number of posts directed toward the same concern?

[island40]

I've taught RN students at two community colleges in IA. Both tied annonomous student evaluations to retention- forget getting a raise in IA. I've had students throw thier books, cut thier toenails, and have a hair-pulling drag down fight in the nurse's station during clinical. None of these students were expelled or disciplined. I was told to get control of my class. I quit at the end of the semester. I had the understanding that I was going to be teaching adults, not spoiled children. My class had a 92% NCLEX pass rate- much higher than the 77% of the institution.

[island40]

I've taught RN students at two community colleges in IA. Both tied annonomous student evaluations to retention- forget getting a raise in IA. I've had students throw thier books during lecture, cut thier toenails during lecture, and have a hair-pulling drag down fight in the nurse's station during clinical. None of these students were expelled or disciplined. I was told to get control of my class. I quit at the end of the semester. I had the understanding that I was going to be teaching adults, not spoiled children. My class had a 92% NCLEX pass rate- much higher than the 77% of the institution.