It had been a horrible semester. The classes I had with this professor gave me a stabbing headache every day I had to endure them. It sounds hyperbolic, but it’s true — and I know I’m not the only student who has felt this way.
I was livid. I was dutiful in class, following the syllabus to a T, only to be told that I did it wrong and had to rewrite entire papers based on a professor’s whim.
One group worked the entire semester on a specific topic (as did all of our groups). The 14-page syllabus said this work would culminate in a final paper on their topic, and the professor frequently reminded us of this. But they were only told two days before the final paper was due that it was, in fact, an individual assignment — after they got approval from the professor a week before on their topic, and after spending nearly 12 hours over the weekend writing their 10-page paper. It didn’t matter. They would all have to do their own, and it was due in two days.
Many of us pointed out this inconsistency, especially when the professor allowed us to voice our concerns. But we were immediately shut down every time. Throughout the semester, tears were shed, heated words were exchanged and students were told to leave class when they voiced their concerns.
I waited desperately for the day we could fill out an evaluation. The class — approximately 15 students — took nearly half an hour filling them out. Three of the students had gone to the department head prior to evaluations to share their stories. One student did the same thing this semester: same professor, same class. If the Rate My Professor profile is any indication, there have been many students who dealt with the same problems.
But the professor is still here.
So I couldn’t help but wonder, what’s the point of the evaluations? Who decides who stays and who goes, and when? It’s an issue I will be exploring in two parts, separated by colleges: first up is CLA and SFA. LSBE, CEHSP and Swenson will be coming later on.
For CLA, I focused on my department: Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. WGSS has a fairly unique process in that we not only fill out the basic scantron form, but also an additional one. The additional form provides space for elaborating on questions. This is where students are given the opportunity to share their thoughts, rather than just assign a number to a category.
Andrea Sande, executive office and administrative specialist for WGSS, says that the department has been doing the supplementary form for at least 10 years. She has been here for the past three years.
“It allows us to get more constructive feedback from students,” Sande said. She works with an assistant to type up all of the written responses from students so professors cannot recognize handwriting.
“I would encourage everyone to do this — for themselves, and to take the pulse of the classroom because everyone learns differently,” department head Gesa Zinn said.
Zinn says these supplementary forms are especially important for professors to get direct feedback about their performance, which will hopefully lead to improvement in the future.
Of course, WGSS courses employ a very different (feminist) pedagogy than most other disciplines. Because of this, the generic form is rarely enough to capture the real outcome of the course.
“Many of our courses, we talk things through. We talk about sensitive issues. Because of the intimacy of some of the topics, I think it is good for us to have additional feedback,” Zinn said.
Obviously many professors would love to receive high scores, especially if they are up for tenure, but low scores are just as important and can be due to a variety of factors.
“There are often many reasons for low scores,” William Payne, dean of SFA, said. “As they are only one of the evaluative tools, we often give faculty some time to take the criticism and make some changes in their course design or their pedagogical approach.”
Both Zinn and Payne agree that feedback from students is not only important for promotional purposes, but to help professors get better at their jobs.
“Teaching is an art and needs practice,” Payne said. “I know from experience that teaching a new course well can take two or three attempts before truly knowing how to deliver the material effectively for the largest number of students.”
Faculty in SFA may choose to include additional questions in the traditional scantron evaluation form, much like WGSS uses the supplementary form.
However, these extra forms do not have to be included in a professor’s review portfolio. All that is looked at by the dean and chancellor is the number form, due to union contract. It is a way to streamline the evaluation process, and I think this is where problems arise.
And the problems I’m talking about are more than having a “tough” professor or getting an unfair grade. I’ve had professors who assign plenty of work, but I would never fault them for it as long as they established early on what the course would entail, rather than randomly adding huge assignments that weren’t on the syllabus.
Instead, I’m talking about professors like my story above. Professors who create a toxic environment or fail to correct misunderstandings the class has. We pay around $13,000 a year to go to UMD, and we should be the ones who determine which professors are worth our time and money. In fact, students should be the ones who determine which questions are asked on evaluations for their respective majors. Every department’s pedagogy is different (sometimes radically and intentionally so), and they should be judged on how they achieve the specific purpose they’re focused on.
It’s really important for me to mention here that I love my school. Both of my majors (women’s studies and philosophy) have provided me with an excellent education. My professors are supportive and push me to go beyond what I thought I was capable of. But one bad professor can absolutely tarnish an otherwise excellent semester. I worry that the negative professor scares away potential majors (especially for departments under the threat of being cut due to a lack of enrollment). I don’t want to bash my departments for the sake of some twisted form of revenge — I just want them to be the best they can, and I’m sure they do too. I want the education I deserve and, quite frankly, the education I’m paying serious money for.
BY APRILL EMIG
Senior Staff Reporter