Critlib chat: validity of student evaluations on teaching

Welcome to today’s #critlib discussion on validity of student evals on teaching! I’ll be your moderator. Plz introduce yourselves!

Hi #critlib, I'm Kate from UW. Lib tech, not in classrooms before but have been a lecturer. #critlib

Hi #critlib! I'm Christine, IL & Instruction Librarian at St. Norbert College.

Hi #critlib, I'm Angela from acad lib in GA

Welcome everyone! Keep it up with the intros, for the sake of time I'll pose the first question #critlib

Plz respond with A1, A2, A3 etc. & with the #critlib hashtag

Hi, #critlib! 👋 I'm Sarah, academic librarian in Atlanta. Will be popping in and out of discussion as I'm attending #alamw17.

A1 I was a lecturer in a CompSci department. It was interesting that many of my open ended evals criticized my appearance/fashion. #critlib

A1 At the same time, several female students were glad/inspired to have a woman teaching CS. #critlib

A1 When I was a TA and often the only woman one, I'd get a lot more traffic in my office hours than others #critlib

.@metageeky interesting to think about how a wardrobe could impact evals--I've gotten comments on my shoes in evals before... #critlib

@Infinity_Dots Apparently, pointing up at a screen at one point, I showed a bit of my belly. Ewwww. #critlib

@Infinity_Dots How do you address the inane changes in top lengths dictated by women's fashion in teaching evals? #critlib

A1 Definitely notice it for my disabled colleague #critlib

.@metageeky I myself dress pretty androgynous, & think I come off as looking queer, & I can't tell what affect that has on my evals #critlib

.@sarahkirkley I'm sorry. :( could you share how that manifested in student evals or responses in classes? #critlib

hi #critlib - late but happy about today's topic! I am an academic lib that does instruction and teaches a credit bearing course

A1: Noticed bias against colleagues who might not have strong technical skills. #critlib

A1/2: Another aspect I've seen is if the teacher is not fluent in English, has an accent, or stutters. #critlib

I agree @metageeky ! Something I totally did not take into account! 🙉 #critlib

A1) I have experienced bias, based on my age. Get lots of questions about "did you graduate?" "have you done this before?" #critlib  https://twitter.com/Infinity_Dots/status/823608451242676225 …

@Infinity_Dots Unwilling to follow along and complete activities during info lit sessions, giggling, etc. 😕 #critlib

Thank you @christinemmoe I think that's a big hurdle. I accidentally made it known that I was clueless about Instagram in a class.. #critlib

A2: The impact often involves disengagement, whispering, not taking things seriously. #critlib

@CharissaAPowell Oh gawd! Yes! I look a lot younger than I am. I swear I should carry around my dissertation to prove I have a PhD. #critlib

hi #critlib - I'm late but excited for today's topic. I am an academic lib that does instruction and coordinates our IL program

Yeah I've noticed students' comments on confidence & maybe they think that's a result of lack of confidence? I don't @metageeky #critlib

@Infinity_Dots Do you think that admission impacted the class? #critlib

A1. Yep! Seen age and gender related comments mostly. Some related to accent which are also troubling... #critlib

Yeah I think that can go both ways with age! @metageeky @CharissaAPowell #critlib

@Infinity_Dots Sadly, a lot of people assume stupidity if a person does not speak well. #critlib

A2.2) I've had instructors undermine me, interrupt me, during info lit sessions. #critlib  https://twitter.com/Infinity_Dots/status/823611092945555457 …

A2 I've seen folks (myself included) then disregard all student comments which is not great but a coping strategy at times #critlib

A2) I had one instructor who point blank, in front of the class, asked if I had any experience teaching. #critlib

A2 Can be classes getting off track, difficulty with classroom management, librarians (myself included) sometimes getting flustered #critlib

.@christinemmoe Hmmm I'm not sure what you mean by admission. plz clarify! sry! #critlib

@CharissaAPowell My jaw dropped open at that! I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you. #critlib

@CharissaAPowell Ugh me too #critlib

@Infinity_Dots @metageeky so true! #critlib

#critlib Late but here! Academic librarian interested in today's topic

@CharissaAPowell Ugh. Same thing happens in CompSci classes a lot. Being challenged by older students. #critlib

@Infinity_Dots I meant your admission about Instagram. Did the students respond in any way to that? #critlib

A2.2 Also seen this bias impact our self-evaluation of our teaching skills and confidence #critlib

A2: Another aspect of disability bias is just the assumption a person can't do the job. He's in a wheelchair, how can he teach? #critlib

A2 Honestly if I feel called out or not taken seriously, I know I'm not doing my best teaching anymore #critlib

I've heard that before. Same for a blind student TA. How can he grade programs if he can't see the code? RIDICULOUS! #critlib

@metageeky Yikes, that's rough! I work with first-year students, who rock, and don't question my age as a means of qualification :) #critlib

.@CharissaAPowell I'm sorry :( I get lots of challenges to my authority & I think it may be gender bias driven #critlib

@ccaffgardner Yeah. I think I always bought alcohol after reading my course reviews. #critlib

@ccaffgardner Was really bad when I was teaching temporarily and trying to get an academic job. Double whammies #critlib

@Infinity_Dots @metageeky @CharissaAPowell I just got "are the rest of the librarians as young as you?" from a college parent. #critlib

@metageeky @CharissaAPowell I've noticed age has big effect. I'm late 30s, haven't noticed probs as much as younger colleagues #critlib

@sarahkirkley I feel you on the getting flustered part especially! #critlib

@metageeky @ccaffgardner You're not the only one! I also made sure I had a friend nearby before reading the evals. #critlib

Ah yes! I'd made a comment to one student who scoffed about it. I didn't bring that up again after that @christinemmoe #critlib

.@beckiejean @metageeky @CharissaAPowell As our boss would say "GRRRRRRRR" #critlib

@metageeky So I provide articles on student bias in evals - talk about overall trends, and do coffee to build each other back up #critlib

@CharissaAPowell it's the worst! #critlib

@Infinity_Dots thank you for reminding me of that! I'm interested to know if my (younger) male colleagues experience similar things #critlib

I love that idea! @christinemmoe @metageeky @ccaffgardner I think I'll pose that this semester, maybe with a bottle of wine too :D #critlib

That's great you address it in class!! My only problem is not having enough time to fit that in @ccaffgardner @metageeky #critlib

@ccaffgardner That's a great idea! Time for intentional reflection but also to support one another. #critlib

@Infinity_Dots @christinemmoe @ccaffgardner I'd recommend cider and a few options for the non-tipplers (good quality sodas/coffee) #critlib

@LibrarianAngie @metageeky thank you for that perspective! that's good to know and very interesting #critlib

Q4 Most of my teaching is in credit class. Occasionally invite peer reviewer in for more useful feedback #critlib

A4: I started using a customized version of Brookfield's critical incident questionnaire. More about learning and less about me. #critlib

Oh yeah, speaking of disability and teaching, check out today's Google Doodle on Ed Roberts #critlib

.@metageeky @christinemmoe @ccaffgardner I like it! I'm pumped to look into group eval reading/support time #critlib

We have voluntary peer review structure, can go in tenure/promo binder to balance out any negative student evals #critlib

A4 Mostly formative assessment, peer-teaching evals, and partnerships with faculty. Student evals probably rank last for me #critlib  https://twitter.com/Infinity_Dots/status/823614880804732929 …

.@Infinity_Dots @metageeky @ccaffgardner I really like this, too, and will definitely be holding onto this idea for future use! #critlib

Also, because I get regular student evals from credit class, I do formative assessment not student eval in one-shots #critlib

@LibrarianAngie So this is in addition to student evals then? #critlib

Thank you! @christinemmoe I hadn't hear of this b4 but I'm going to check it out! #critlib

@Infinity_Dots @metageeky @CharissaAPowell Played it off as a compliment. But also redirected to how connected to students we are. #critlib

#critlib A4) starting a formalized student eval assessment this semester. Interested in additional methods of instruction eval as well.

A4) the credit bearing course I teach has an observation by a peer instructor, as well as someone on an admin level. #critlib

.@beckiejean @metageeky @CharissaAPowell I think that's a huge advantage if they can see a bit of themselves in us! #critlib

@LibrarianAngie that sounds great! Student evals are required for our one-shots but we definitely try to focus on student learning #critlib

You can find basic info about the CIQ here:  http://www.stephenbrookfield.com/ciq/  @Infinity_Dots #critlib

@ccaffgardner What do those student evals ask? I can't imagine wasting time on that in every one-shot! #critlib

A5 Encourage a random kudos service to people and make a culture where that happens regularly. #critlib

A5 I'd love to see more peer observations in the context of learning from each other and a culture of openess #critlib

I like it @metageeky ! Do you mean giving positive affirmations? #critlib

.@metageeky Because I think that does wonders for student confidence & makes students feel cared about, which they should be! #critlib

@Infinity_Dots Yes, but making it easy to do that. A website where you can post a kudos to anyone (anon or signed). #critlib

@Infinity_Dots Yes. I tried to do that when teaching after the first time I complimented a student for her improvement on HW #critlib

@Infinity_Dots Her response was so awesome. I could tell she needed it. #critlib

.@metageeky that's great! I think that's one positive side of student evals--they can tell us if we're resonating with students #critlib

(if we can look between the lines of the bias) @metageeky #critlib

@Infinity_Dots Well, this was immediate feedback and not end of term evals. #critlib

We're approaching the end of the 60 minutes, so if anyone has a #critlib #critpitch plz speak soon!

Thanks @Infinity_Dots and all for #critlib today! Now off to the ref desk :)

Thank you for joining us today & for your selpful & thoughtful responses! @ccaffgardner #critlib

I’d like to #critpitch a Storify volunteer if anybody’s interested! #critlib

Thanks to @Infinity_Dots and everyone else for a great #critlib today. Have a good week, all!