Timeline for How should I deal with very negative feedback from some students?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 28, 2017 at 17:00 | vote | accept | Coder | ||
| Mar 13, 2017 at 8:51 | comment | added | xLeitix | @JasonC It says you should ignore feedback completely unless similar comments keep coming up, and I still think this is crucial. Let's say you teach a regular-sized course with 40 students the first time. You receive 7 to 10 feedback sheets back (normal response rate as long as students don't have to provide feedback). 2 or 3 are positive, 3 or 4 don't really say anything, 1 guy seems to have constructive feedback, and 2 guys hated your course. Is it really a good idea to start questioning everything because two people (n=2!) hated your course? | |
| Mar 13, 2017 at 0:59 | comment | added | Jason C | I am not sure I 100% like this answer (maybe more like... 90% like). Absolutely on point with most of it, except it also reads as "ignore the feedback completely". I think a balance is really necessary. The focused question approach in Arthur's answer, in combination with the advice in this answer, make for a great combo. But I do think this answer downplays the value that can be extracted from even aggressive anon. feedback. But, I am not a professor, although I have had similar experiences in other leadership roles open to anon. feedback. | |
| Mar 11, 2017 at 16:24 | comment | added | Fuhrmanator | Louis CK explains rude anonymous comments as not having to deal with the human reaction to them immediately (re: cellphones with kids): gawker.com/… | |
| S Mar 10, 2017 at 21:30 | history | suggested | Pysis | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
highlighting and rephrasing
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| Mar 10, 2017 at 20:42 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Mar 10, 2017 at 21:30 | |||||
| Mar 9, 2017 at 7:12 | comment | added | xLeitix | Also, my experience is that students tend to overestimate to what extend their and their friend's feelings represent "the majority of the class". This is of course not to say that there are no courses where most students are dissatisfied ... | |
| Mar 9, 2017 at 7:10 | comment | added | xLeitix | @EvSunWoodard Sure, if most students provide similar feedback, go ahead and take it serious - this is what I meant to say at the end of my answer. But in my experience, this is rarely what happens, and I don't think that this question is about consistently bad feedback. It's about the occasional overly harsh or insulting feedback that you get as part of anonymous feedback, or at least I read it like that. | |
| Mar 9, 2017 at 2:48 | comment | added | Rob P. | Also worth mentioning that positive feedback also isn't always truthful. As an undergrad, I had a 'blow off' class that was an easy A. At the time, I gave that guy top marks. I'm pretty sure the majority of my classmates did the same. We all seemed pretty happy about his hands off approach. In hindsight, I learned nothing. The time and money spent in class, collectively goofing off, wasn't beneficial to myself as a student, or to the instructor, if he had intentions of improving his craft or continuing on as a professor. | |
| Mar 9, 2017 at 1:19 | comment | added | tomasz | @EvSunWoodard: so what is it, exactly, that you're disagreeing with? It seems like you're saying more or less the same thing. | |
| Mar 8, 2017 at 19:53 | comment | added | user61733 | I have certainly used anonymous feedback to vent my feelings about a class or professor. Knowing that anything I said would have few repercussions allowed me to say things I normally never would have—which is the entire point of anonymous feedback. So I agree with EvSunWoodard, in that if you're students are saying it, there's probably a reason why. But I never stopped to think about how de-motivating my words might have been for the professor, so I have to say, too, that don't take it personally. | |
| Mar 8, 2017 at 17:45 | comment | added | EvSunWoodard | That is to say, don't take everything personally, especially if most of your feedback is positive, or if the feedback is negative, but different from answer to answer. But if there is a consistent critique across multiple answers, try and be unbiased, and think about how you can resolve the issue. If your homework is too hard (according to multiple answers), try and figure out if what you are asking for is significantly out of scope from what you've taught. If you think they need to know X, make sure they have adequate resources to learn about X. Never take it personally though. | |
| Mar 8, 2017 at 17:42 | comment | added | EvSunWoodard | I disagree with a lot of this, having just come out of school and had a bad prof who taught a large percentage of classes in my area of study. While I suspect he was a nice guy, he had a tendency to get defensive if we didn't understand his explanation of what was taught in lecture. He also designed his classes so that answers (or any information at all) could not be found in any resources besides the book he wrote to teach the class. Anonymous feedback was the best way to let him know how frustrated I was without him being mad at me, and I know my opinion was the silent (and vocal) majority. | |
| Mar 8, 2017 at 14:39 | comment | added | Coder | That is quite well said (+1). I am/was really de-motivated to take the subsequent lectures after reading their feedback. However, I wanted to recover by finding some suggestions here in academia.SE. Thank you very much sir. | |
| S Mar 8, 2017 at 12:28 | history | suggested | FuzzyLeapfrog | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
minor typo correction, enhanced readability
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| Mar 8, 2017 at 12:08 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Mar 8, 2017 at 12:28 | |||||
| Mar 8, 2017 at 11:37 | history | answered | xLeitix | CC BY-SA 3.0 |