October 11, 2021

I’m back in the office regularly now and it is much quieter than pre-COVID normal and it feels we are still all sort of hunkered down (with doors closed or only slightly ajar).  But it’s an improvement.  I hope all is going well in the classroom as we approach the autumn break.  We’re not hearing of many problems, although teaching through a mask can be challenging.

I finally had a chance to look through the School’s spring student evaluation of instruction (SEI) data.  We received 138 pages of student comments!  The School did quite well with the overall average SEI’s matching the College and University I finally had a chance to look through the School’s spring student evaluation of instruction (SEI) data.  We received 138 pages of student comments!  The School did quite well with the overall average SEI’s matching the College and University averages.  We had a couple classes that struggled with the on-line conversion, but for the most part our community of instructors really stepped up and did a great job.  I want to offer some thoughts on our instructional efforts and this feedback.

First, I want to recognize that we have been very fortunate through this pandemic to have Kylienne Shaul on our team.  Her wisdom and experience have proved invaluable the last 18 months as she has supported many of you by answering questions and providing guidance on best practices for teaching on-line or using Carmen.

As I’ve studied student feedback, there are three primary things that lead to student concern.  First, and most critical, is fair and transparent processes of assessment.  Our students will generally be kind with their evaluations, but if they perceive exams or other assessments as unfair then their feedback can be very tough.  And if for some reason there is sustained confusion and concern with assessment, we begin to have students showing up in 210 and sharing that feedback with academic advisors before the semester is over.  This rarely happens, but when it does it is imperative we get this straightened out as soon as possible.  Second, course organization is critical.  In the early offerings of a course, organization can be weak, but students are generally sympathetic.  And in nearly all cases we see steady improvement with subsequent offerings.  The shift to on-line challenged some of our courses organizationally this last year, but students were generally understanding but not in all cases.  Finally, communication and responsiveness are important.  Probably the best strategy is to figure out an organizational structure that prompts few questions, but if your teaching style or organization prompt questions you need to be prepared to respond in a timely fashion.

One challenge that I see some of our instructors grappling with is the increased enrollments.  Most of our classes are full, and some have grown quite large.  This is challenging some existing course organizational strategies and prompting some of you to have to adjust your teaching style or develop new strategies.  One of our needs going into next academic year is expanding some of our course offerings or options as we anticipate this student demand to continue growing given the recent incoming student cohort numbers.

Finally, I want to thank our graduate teaching associates for the important work you all are doing to support our classes and students.  I consistently see embedded in the student SEI comments remarks about how a TA did a great job, was available to answer questions, or provided important support.  Thank you.  Your work contributes to our reputation of offering a great undergraduate program.

In closing, I want to share one of my favorite rituals with the SEI comments.  I do a key word search on the word “best”.  The word shows up 87 times among the spring comments and I stopped counting after I noted over 10 of our instructors receiving that label.  The word favorite showed up 70 times.  Great job team and keep up the great work.