In order to receive final grade reports at the end of every semester, Blackburn College students are prompted to fill out evaluations about professors on the student portal. According to English and communications department chair Naomi Crummey, “Student evaluations are done by students and that gets processed by the office of Institutional Research. They pull the information off the portal where students report it and send it to individual professors.” The information is also sent to the chair of every department, the division chairs, as well as Provost John McClusky.
The evaluations have two different parts. Part one consists of questions ranking certain traits and characteristics of professors, such as if the professor cares about student engagement during class or if students feel the professor is respectful. Students pick answers that range from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree,” but these answers are represented as numbers when sent to professors, department chairs and division chairs.
Part two of the evaluations is where students can leave typed comments about the professor. These comments are only seen by the individual professor and are not shared with the department and division chairs. Professors could possibly receive poor comments on their teaching ability but the professors are not required to report these if they were to be written. “If someone in my department had been getting certain ratings and then they suddenly dipped… I would go to the faculty member and ask some questions about their teaching that semester,” said Crummey, who previously was the humanities division chair.
Tenure also plays a role in the case of poor teaching being reported. Tenure is a term used in the education field that means giving someone a permanent post or position. Crummey said “Typically before you get tenure, you have an annual review process. A lot of faculty members include their evaluation responses and numbers in their letters.” These letters are annual reflections on how the year went. The evaluations are often part of the reappointment process before receiving tenure. Provost McClusky agrees that the evaluations can give great insight to how interested students are in a class.
However, these evaluations may not be a complete reflection of one’s teaching ability. “It’s not a good indication because you never know if a student is mad about their grade so they say a bunch of stuff,” said Crummey. Junior Johnathon Shaw fills out his evaluations quickly, but gives accurate ratings. Shaw said, “I only leave negative comments for professors that I think deserve them. I don’t leave good comments because that professor knows he or she is doing well because of their ratings.”
Crummey indicated that teaching multiple classes over multiple years can be a much better indication of how a professor is doing. “I take them very seriously and they are very valuable for me. I’ve learned really important things from student evaluations over the years. They help me be more reflective on how to be a better teacher,” said Crummey.