Faculty evaluations

[SolaireSolstice, BSN, RN]

Anyone ever give their instructor a bad evaluation? Do these things ever effect the instructors?

I don't know if it's common for all schools, but the colleges (2 regular 4 year universities and nursing school) I have been to all do these end of class "anonymous" evaluations on our instructors and the course. This class I'm currently taking I have had the worst, most dangerous clinical instructor ever, and our entire class really poured it out on the evaluation. We all had our little issues. My main one was the way she insisted on holding the needle while I was giving a newborn Vitamin K, which interfered with my having control of the needle and made it impossible to even see where the needle was going into the baby. It was dangerous. Also she would yell through the glass of the newborn nursery windows (while familes were watching) at the students while they were doing the newborn baths and assessments. "You're taking too long!" even though they were doing absolutely nothing wrong and were under the direct supervision of the nursery nurses. We had several family members (one father) complain about the students taking care of the infants after these episodes of hers, because they assumed this crazy lady screaming through the window wearing a white lab coat knew what she was talking about (she didn't).

I'm just wondering if they will even be read. Also sort of wondering if she will know who wrote what, though I suspect she will. I have distictive handwriting.

[sharpeimom]

yes, they do matter. they are factored into whether or not tenure is awarded or not if the faculty member is tenure stream, overall regard by admin and fellow faculty, whether or not a promotion is given, raises and whether or not simple cost of living or cost of living plus merit, ability to change jobs as past evaluations must be provided with cv, reference letters etc.

if a student has distinctive handwriting, they do know who wrote the evaluation, but often know who wrote it if a particular student has been very vocal in class, or before or after then says the same thing on the evaluation.

remember though, when you fill out an evaluation, you may have that very same professor or instructor for another class down the road. be honest, but remember that what you can come back and bite you in the butt later on.

guess what my husband does for a living?

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

[FowLaf24/7]

Well, usually if the instructor has been there for 20+ years, most likely it won't matter. The instructor is not going to change the way of doing things, nor is the school going to give much thought to the comments made. Now if the instructor is just starting out, then possibly it could have an impact. Either way, if given the opportunity, I would tell it how it is... at least you have given your opinion and that is what was asked from you!

[SolaireSolstice, BSN, RN]

remember though, when you fill out an evaluation, you may have that very same professor or instructor for another class down the road. be honest, but remember that what you can come back and bite you in the butt later on.

guess what my husband does for a living?

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

this instructor only teaches ob, so i won't have her again.

[rn/writer, RN]

Well, usually if the instructor has been there for 20+ years, most likely it won't matter. The instructor is not going to change the way of doing things, nor is the school going to give much thought to the comments made. Now if the instructor is just starting out, then possibly it could have an impact. Either way, if given the opportunity, I would tell it how it is... at least you have given your opinion and that is what was asked from you!

Maybe the instructor was great 20 years ago. Or even two years ago. But people can start to slip for a variety of reasons. Job fatigue. A battle with depression. Personal stressors and challenging circumstances. Losses of many different kinds. Health problems.

Because fellow faculty members rarely sit in on each others' classes or clinical sessions, feedback from the students may be an early indicator that something is wrong. It's not wise to be vicious in an assessment, but you can certainly cite examples of situations or information that caused problems. Be sure to include any good things you can think of so your report sounds balanced and doesn't appear to be vengeful. And list things you wish could have been different or opportunities you wish you would have had instead of just saying negative things about the person.

A slew of critical evaluations may be just the wake-up call the instructor and her superiors need. No one likes to hear disappointing assessments, but if enough people are saying the same things, it can sometimes be the motivating factor to address any problems and make some beneficial changes.

Even if nothing is done, YOU will feel better for having expressed your thoughts and feelings. Doing this should allow you to feel like you took care of yourself and let you close the book and move on. Best case is that something positive will happen and future classes will benefit from your feedback.

I wish you the best with your studies.

[JBudd, MSN]

I have never seen the direct evaluations, they are always retyped and collated into one document. Sometimes I can guess which person said something (all I see are typed quotes) just because of the phrasing or it echoes something they said in class, but can never be sure.

I take them seriously, and have adjusted things when the comments were reasonable (although students don't always know the rationale behind why things must be done a certain way in classrooms).

[New 2 iceeYouRN]

Its funny you ask because we just got "lectured" on evals. In nursing, whether you are in a BSN or ADN program you are expected to be a mature, responsible adult. If you have problems with a professor it is your responsibility to attempt to address this problem before the end of the qtr/semester. Evals are not the time and place to gripe if you haven't exhausted your options during the quarter. If you truly felt that your instructor was dangerous and unprofessional it is your responsibility to speak to the team leader of the course, the director/dean of the department but remember to follow the chain of command. At my school (BSN) anytime the professor receives bad marks they are required to respond to the remarks in a written statement and attach it to the eval. Just remember, these professors are going to see the evals and may recognize your handwriting so don't do anything outrageous that you might regret. Just be sure that you have attempted to address the situation instead of leaving it to eval time.

Best of luck!

[SolaireSolstice, BSN, RN]

I cannot speak for my classmates, but I did speak up beforehand (before the evaluation) to the instructor. I have considered going to the course coordinator, but I'm unsure. Maybe scared? I've done well in nursing school, and I hate to make myself out to be a whiner. I've made 100s every week in this clinical, so it wouldn't be viewed as retaliation. But I'm still unsure. Has anyone reported an instructor for unsafe behavior? What are your opnions?

[melmarie23, MSN, RN]

I've already written two bad evals for this semester and have two more to write.

I'm completely, 100% honest on those. Its really one of the only chances, besides going to dean (which we did this semester...just two weeks ago actually) to really get our thoughts, concerns and grievances out there, so I take full advantage of the opportunity.

[thatsthekeyRNC]

They usually don't receive the actual forms, they are reviewed by the department, summarized/typed up and then shown to the teacher, so I wouldn't worry about handwriting.

[sharpeimom]

they usually don't receive the actual forms, they are reviewed by the department, summarized/typed up and then shown to the teacher, so i wouldn't worry about handwriting.

often they do get the originals to keep. depends upon the individual university policy.

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

[elkpark]

In both nursing programs in which I've taught, the student evals were transcribed into a single document, so, as others noted, I didn't know who said what unless there was something particularly distinctive/unique about something a student said. While I wasn't expected to make changes in response to every individual comment, I was certainly expected to address any trends or common/frequent concerns among the comments and Likert scale numerical scores.