At the end of each semester, instructors at my institution
are granted a wonderful opportunity to receive anonymous feedback from students
regarding our performance and the students’ overall experience of the
course. If the internet has proven
anything, it is that the ability to evaluate others and comment on their work anonymously
is always a helpful and productive enterprise that produces a clear and
accurate picture of…something, I guess.
While my evaluations were, by and large, quite positive this semester (“toot
toot” goes my own horn), I thought it might be helpful to fellow instructors if
I shared the valuable insights that I gained from this round of anonymous
commentary:
I “was very through (sic) with my lectures” and one student
“enjoyed his [my] use of modern news stories to relate to the current lecture
material.” I was “very enthusiastic when
talking about the different topics,” “a bit unexciting,” “kind of boring,” and
“made my lectures interesting and entertaining,” though there should be “less
lectures.”
A student was “often surprised at how much work you [I] put
into it [the class].” Another noted that
“each activity was relevant to the course,” while a colleague of theirs listed
their “likes” as “activities, groupwork, and instructor’s respect for students.” Others were left desiring “more discussion
and hands-on activities in class,” another to “delve deeper into religious
ethics on sexuality, premarital sex, and economics” and one lamenting that I
failed to “bring in more of the religious perspective.”
One particular evaluation stands out: a student appreciated
“history and view on [sic] different religions Buddhism and Islam” while noting
that the course “focused on western religions” and there was “nothing on
Buddhist or other Eastern religions way to salvation.” It appears that the history and views I
taught about Buddhism were a pro while my treatment of Buddhist soteriology was
lacking?
I gave “easy tests and quizzes,” “paper feedback” was listed
as a positive aspect of the course, and I was “really nice, told us [the
students] what I expected, [and was] very understanding,” although another
stated that “I feel like he should lighten up on the grading of papers.”
One final student lamented that I neglected to “encourage
application/personal opinions on the subject matter"...but I guess that’s what
anonymous evaluations are for.
Thanks for reading.
