Not invited back to teach-are student evals given too much weight?

[mystory, BSN, RN]

My best friend, T, is a psych NP, but it has always been her passion to teach. She was thrilled to land a summer gig teaching psych to BSN students. She loved it, and was hoping to be invited back this fall. However, the school declined to extend her position. She is devastated, and I am for her.

She found out that administration based this decision on student evaluations. The students poorly reviewed T's tendency towards interactive learning. T told me that she knew the students preferred passive learning, as evidenced by their groans and eye rolling when T introduced a role playing exercise. However, she continued her interactive teaching style as she maintains the research supports such methods as more effective.

I guess my question is..do you think student evaluations bear too much weight? I know students are the consumers, but it's conceivable that they may not like something when it is actually useful to them and their learning, is it not? Do professors feel they have to please the customers and balance that with safe and effective learning?

Hope this makes sense..thanks in advance.

[RN1488]

Well, I for one am thankful that my school does not take my student's evaluations that seriously. I feel horrible for your friend. Most of the time, the students who respond to the evaluations are the ones that have something negative to say about me. I had 3 out of 26 reply and all of them had at least one negative thing to say about me.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I would think the school would pay attention if an instructor got lots of negative scale-ratings from students over the course of many semesters, but not just one semester.

Evaluations tend to be what sticks out in the students' minds. If they have had a problem during the semester, the evaluation is their chance to let you have it, so to speak. People in general tend to rate other people either excellently or terribly. It's just human nature. We don't tend to rate down the middle, at least not loudly. We don't tend to rate, period, if we're neutral.

What would be more important would be the students' narrative responses on the evaluations. If a student said something that raises a red flag, a school would pay attention to that. If several said the same thing, they'd definitely pay attention.

mystory, please be careful about posting details. Students can read this. Anyone can. What you wrote would be identifiable to anyone who knows your friend's situation.

[Rob72, ASN, RN]

6 of 1, 1/2 dozen of the other. My general experiences are that it has less to do with evals (unless there is just a horrible fit) than politics.

I'm hoping she's objectively self-assessing, and one would hope that someone at the school would be able to offer some other insights. If she's honestly analytical, and feels she didn't do anything "wrong", apply elsewhere. Was she on good terms with any students who might be able to offer constructive criticism (not a gossip session!!)?

Not knowing your friend, I will also say, I've known some abyssmal instructors who never realized that their passion for teaching was about as soundly based as Andy Rooney expecting a hot date with Taylor Swift. FWIW...

[llg, PhD, RN]

There should be a healthy balance. Yes, sometimes faculty members need to do things that students don't like -- and the administration should support their faculty in those situations.

However ... good teachers take their students' preferred learning styles into consideration. They don't ignore it when the students are indicating their displeasure at how material is being taught. When most students are really unhappy with the teaching method, a good teacher addresses the situation and is flexible enough to make some changes -- find some compromises, etc. As a new teacher, she should have gone to some of the more senior faculty and/or her supervisor and asked for suggestions on alternative ways of teaching that would have indicated that she "heard" the students' concerns and was being responsive to their learning style preferences. Seeking guidance may have helped her earn the political support she needed to keep her job.

Could it be that your friend was too rigid in her approach? Did she continue to use teaching methods that the class did not respond well to without trying some other alternatives? Did she take a "I am the teacher and I know best" approach?

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

There should be a healthy balance but at the same time students are the consumers. You may not know the whole story, especially from the students' point of view.

[organichombre, ADN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

That is sad to hear especially in light of the fact that educators are needed everywhere. As a clinical instructor (parttime) I have been fortunate to have gotten good evals from my students over the last 4 years. Students can be finicky and when they all decide that something isn't for them, they will rebel. However I feel that they should not be the last word without some sort of investigation into the individual situation.

[showbizrn]

:) Research shows that

Students learn best

by role-playing, presentations, etc

in other words

By DOING!

Sometimes including some

Passive methods (i.e., outlined

handouts, take-home review questions, etc)

may satisfy the needs of

the students who need

to be "given" something.

I feel the Course Coordinator's

observation of a Post Conference

Session

Plus

the students' evaluations

result in a FAIR assessment

of a Clinical Instructor's

Performance.

[BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN]

:) Research shows that

Students learn best

by role-playing, presentations, etc

in other words

By DOING!

Sometimes including some

Passive methods (i.e., outlined

handouts, take-home review questions, etc)

may satisfy the needs of

the students who need

to be "given" something.

I feel the Course Coordinator's

observation of a Post Conference

Session

Plus

the students' evaluations

result in a FAIR assessment

of a Clinical Instructor's

Performance.

While you are 100% correct, there is unfortunately this feeling (by some students, not all) that the instructor is supposed to be iunstructing. I try very hard to balance the conversation; making it a dialougue, rather than a monologue. But when you can hear the crickets chirping, it's kind of tough to pull the words out of them! I remember the first graduate class I went to, where there was no lecture. It was all on us. We were to report and discuss what we read. I was very confused and disillusioned, until I learned about the adult learning theories. We were asked "do you want to be the sage on the stage, or the guide on the side"? I still, admittedly need to learn to move over to the side a bit more. Many will not like that (the ones who feel they are not getting their money's worth), but it's the best way for them to learn.

As for your friend, it is very discouraging, after working so hard to not be asked back. I am assuming she as an adjunct lecturer? Was she evaluated by a peer in her lecture?Is she in a university setting? Has she spoken to her course head regarding this? I would advise her to make an appointment with her, to go over her evaluations, and discuss strategies that could help her in the future. Even though she may not be teaching this semester, perhaps she has a chance to redeem herself. SHe should offer to sit in on other lectures, ask if there are CE courses she could go to. It is a very small world in nursing education; if she is not asked back to this school, word may get around.