Friday Delay

 

With my realizing that today is Friday, and because I am playing catch-up on all manner of U things from my time in Puerto Rico, I decided it would be best (and most consistent) to have my "Comments on Comments" post be this coming Monday, as is the day I plan for this to consistently occur anyway.  

I am "number crunching" like crazy, but also being bombarded by many students who are begging and pleading for "extra points" or "anything they can do" to help them get the grade they want.  This is a mantra I experience every semester because for many students, this course is (inaccurately) perceived as a "weeder" course to keep folks from getting into one or another programs.  It gives me a sense of anguish, because I DO NOT want to have folks not accomplish their dreams.  Hell, I WANT them to succeed every step of the way.  But, what can I do when some students just DO NOT do the work, or with others, they simply do not know how to study?   

In my Department, I get odd looks from some of my less favorite co-workers because my student evaluations CONSISTENTLY sound dichotomous and contradictory to their ears:

"Dr. Pipe's class is EXTREMELY hard, and his TESTS are brutal, but he is a great teacher."

"Professor Pipe works really hard to help us to learn this very difficult material!!"

"Even though the class subject is so scary and difficult, Dr. Pipe is undoubtedly my favorite and the best professor I have had!" 

"I focused more on this class than I have done for any other class I have taken.  But, I did well, even though the subject was super tough!  Dr. Pipe helped me learn how to study and I am really glad to have had this class with him.  I can't wait to have him again in the Fall!

And this "dichotomy" is true also numerically.  In student evaluations, in addition to "free writing" of comments, students are asked to read statements and assign a Likert Scale number to them (at my U, "1" is strongly disagree and the number "5" is strongly agree).   These numbers are then coalesced into composite number in relevant categories.  Three of the categories (of many) are "Difficulty of Course" and "Helpfulness of Teacher" and "Quality of Instruction".

Most professors tend to have either a) low difficulty scores associated with high helpfulness scores or b) high difficulty scores associated with low helpfulness scores.  Quality of Instruction scores tend to hover for most around an "average" or a "3".  

In this class, and actually in all my classes, I have the following:

Difficulty Scores = 4.5 - 4.8

Helpfulness of Teacher Scores = 4.5 - 4.7

Quality of Instruction Scores =  4.7 - 4.9

With the difficulty I have had with two of the members of my Department, the grousing and aggravation these two have (and have expressed) about my scores has me chuckle and smile inside my mind.  One of them gets scores that are low for difficulty and only moderate for helpfulness and quality.  The other gets high difficulty scores and very low helpfulness scores and low-moderate quality scores.   

I do not usually talk about my evaluations or my scores.  But, today, with so many pleading students, recalling that I am generally well-regarded by my students does help.  

PipeTobacco