Timeline for How should I deal with very negative feedback from some students?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 10, 2017 at 20:13 | comment | added | Bryan Krause♦ | @march I agree with you on this as well: I said vaguely "improve syllabus" but thank you for some explicit suggestions of what that could look like (including setting expectations that may not be explicitly on the syllabus but still form the framework for the course). My overall point was really just that there are little pieces of useful feedback that might be buried in a student's unnecessarily rude/poorly worded evaluations. | |
| Mar 10, 2017 at 20:06 | comment | added | march | I would add another take-away to this particular comment. Perhaps the OP doesn't need to change what they're doing in terms of assigning specific sections or changing the textbook, but perhaps the OP needs to be more clear about expectations. Try to make it clear to what level you will be teaching along with the textbook and where you're going to deviate, for instance, on the very first day of class or in the syllabus or along the way. Make it clear what the purpose of the textbook is. Etc. | |
| Mar 8, 2017 at 20:47 | comment | added | Bryan Krause♦ | @JMac Totally agree. I don't think hard questions are a problem, and I echo what you suggest about expectations: let students know "you aren't going to see questions exactly like the textbook." Even better, use homework or something similar to establish that in a more comfortable setting before the pressure of an exam: give questions that test understanding to a similar degree to what is on the exam, rather than giving only formulaic questions and then adding an unexpected surprise to the exam. | |
| Mar 8, 2017 at 20:41 | comment | added | JMac | I will say that the response you focused on isn't even always a bad thing. All of my favourite teachers in high school and professors in university asked non-standard questions that we couldn't find exact analogs for in the text. To me it showed that they wanted to make sure we understood the material, and didn't just regirgutate formulas. The courses were difficult, but the understanding gained was hard to match. The key point I'm trying to make is that the OP getting that feedback doesn't mean he should change his style. It could be as easy as telling students he asks tough questions. | |
| Mar 8, 2017 at 18:27 | history | edited | Bryan Krause♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 58 characters in body
|
| Mar 8, 2017 at 18:12 | history | answered | Bryan Krause♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |