Hi All - Two issues...
(1) First, many thanks to all TIPSters for pointing me to both interesting
anecdotes and formal data on views of psychologists. Special thanks to Jim
Clark for alerting me to the Janda et al. article, which I hadn't seen - very
helpful. If I come across other relevant survey data, I'll be sure to send it
along to TIPS.
(2) Second, is anyone aware of any data on the trajectory of SETs (student
evaluations of teaching) over time within instructors? I know this literature
a bit, but have never seen any data on this issue. An N=1 anecdote, for what
it's worth - perhaps not much (bearing in mind the old saw that anecdotes can
sometimes be helpful for hypothesis generation, but are usually severely
limited by hypothesis testing):
Fortunately, my undergraduate course evaluations tend to be fairly high (I
also teach graduate courses, but these are usually easier to get high
evaluations in, at least in my experience). But they are not as high as they
were when I first started teaching, especially as a graduate student. In the
first few courses I taught, as an advanced graduate student at the University
of Minnesota, my course evaluations were nearly perfect. In retrospect, my
teaching back then wasn't nearly as good, especially in its content (much of
which I now look back it with some chagrin), but I spent much more time with
students, gave them lots of pointers about exams, gave many long review
sessions, was more palsy-walsy with them, etc., etc. And the students back
then loved me much more than they do now. Perhaps I'm deluding myself and my
teaching has gotten worse. Or maybe there are confounding variables (class
size, different university, youthful appearance and fewer gray hairs, etc.)
that explain the difference; I don't know. But I wonder how much of it's the
fact that I am tougher now than I was then, and don't hand-hold the students
nearly as much.
In any case, is anyone aware of any data bearing on this question?
Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D.
Professor
Editor, Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice
Department of Psychology, Room 473 Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences
(PAIS)
Emory University
36 Eagle Row
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
[email protected]
(404) 727-1125
Psychology Today Blog:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-skeptical-psychologist
50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology:
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-140513111X.html
Scientific American Mind: Facts and Fictions in Mental Health Column:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/sciammind/
The Master in the Art of Living makes little distinction between his work and
his play,
his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his
recreation,
his love and his intellectual passions. He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does,
leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.
To him - he is always doing both.
- Zen Buddhist text
(slightly modified)
From: Christopher D. Green [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 1:37 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: [tips] Deep in the Heart of Texas - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com
Stanley Fish tells us why student course evaluations (and other immediate forms
of teacher "assessment") are of limited value.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/deep-in-the-heart-of-texas/?hp
Socrates got it right: Before you can figure out what is true, you have to
first dismantle what you think you know.
Put another way, there are no blank slates. Students come into classes with
beliefs and assumptions. They may not like you challenging those -- and may
mark you down on evaluations for trying -- but that's your job. If you're a
real teacher, it may be your calling.
Chris
--
Christopher D. Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Canada
416-736-2100 ex. 66164
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/
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