Comments on: Student evaluations again

By: Adrien

Adrien — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:03:24 +0000

JG - Give me a tyrannical teacher who disdains undergraduates,
.
Yep. A really snooty patronizing superior absolute bastard is one of the prime motivators for excellence.

By: Legal Eagle

Legal Eagle — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:38:02 +0000

I’m a big fan of detailed course guides myself. Although it is depressing when students don’t read them. Every semester, I get at least one student who complains that they don’t know what cases will be in the next lesson, and I say, “READ THE COURSE GUIDE!”

By: skepticlawyer

skepticlawyer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:11:28 +0000

The few times I’ve used powerpoint, it’s been for case citations and visuals, nothing more. As a general rule, however, I provide a detailed course guide at the beginning of the term - that seems to do the trick. Very few people are really gifted with powerpoint. I’ve had one teacher who was brilliant (don’t mind mentioning his name - Prof Vernon Nase in tort at UQ. I think he’s at UWA now) and I’ve seen one comedian use them to devastating effect (Laurence Clark).

By: Legal Eagle

Legal Eagle — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:05:51 +0000

Anthony, I love diagrams! If I do have Powerpoint slides, that’s the other thing I put on them (particularly useful for sorting out equitable proprietary priority disputes). I also love flowcharts, but I tend to put them on handouts so that people can write their own notes on them.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:37:52 +0000

As for relying on what students think of a course, I’m reminded of the following exchange from David Mamet’s Tin Men, a great 1980s movie, where Danny De Vito was going to buy a lovely new cadillac:
SALESMAN
Now, how much are you willing to
pay?
BB
There ya go… there ya go…
you’re doing it… you’re doing
one of those hustle numbers.

SALESMAN
I’m just trying to get an idea
how much you’re willing to pay.
BB
Four dollars… I want to pay four
dollars a month.
SALESMAN
That’s not an honest answer.
BB
What do ya want to hear? That I’d
love to pay three hundred and fifty
a month… is that what you want to
hear? Tell me how much you want me
to pay and I’ll tell you how much
I’ll pay, but don’t do a hustle on
me… I don’t like that. How much
do I want to pay? I’d like to pay
nothing!

In short, ask students what type of assessment they’d like, and there’s the danger they’ll say ‘Nothing! We’d like no assessment!’. How would you like to be taught? ‘Spoon fed, without any requirement to do any self-directed learning’ etc etc

By: Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:29:34 +0000

I’ve learnt to stop worrying and love Powerpoints as a law teacher in Property Law and Contract Law. The thing is the slides must be complementary to what your presenting, not trying to replicate it. So if you’re orally presenting lots of words/text (which is what law teachers usually do; I’ve yet to see interpretive dance take hold as a method of explicating legal doctrine) then the thing to avoid is slides which also present lots of text. Students can’t effectviely take in text aurally and visually.

So I use the slides for more visual representations. If I amteaching in a small group with a whiteboard, I usually fill the whiteboard with diagrams and timelines and flow charts etc, so when lecturing I use the powerpoints for this purpose, as well as for setting out the structure of a lecture or an area of law. Visual aids are a great help in law: stylised maps when explaining an easements problem; timelines for adverse possession; diagrams to illustrate how a joint tenancy can be severed by mutual transfers etc.

By: Legal Eagle

Legal Eagle — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:40:43 +0000

JG at #14, the problem with exams and essays as an evaluation is that you can be the best teacher in the world, but if students don’t study or even bother to turn up to class then you shouldn’t be judged by the quality of their exams or essays.

As I said in my post on challenging marks, one of the difficulties in being a teacher is that there is only so much you can do. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink, no matter how much you might coax it or bully it. The final mark is up to the student. I think some of the outrage at KRudd’s idea of assessing high school teachers by students’ marks reflects this.

I am interested in how students perceive my classes, and if there are any valid criticisms I take them on board, but personally, I don’t believe my job is to spoon-feed students. As I say, in the end, it’s up to them how much work they want to put into it.

By: John Greenfield

John Greenfield — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:23:38 +0000

Of course the ultimate student evaluation would be the quality of responses in final examinations and major essays.

By: John Greenfield

John Greenfield — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:22:04 +0000

As a MAS, I was appalled when we were begged to fill in these forms. Most of the undergrads are ignorant, conservative, bovine fools. The idea they have the capacity to evaluate academics is a sad reflection on the low-wattage drivel they must be being shovelled. This whole university as group therapy gig is a scandal.

Give me a tyrannical teacher who disdains undergraduates, but has a total clue than one of these fembots who is “one of the girls.”

By: Legal Eagle

Legal Eagle — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:49:42 +0000

Love all the spoof powerpoints - I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who hates ‘em.

Yes, I have always suspected the true purpose of student evaluations is to keep the pencil pushers happy and give them a bunch of statistics to work with…