When Students Evaluate Faculty On-Line

Being an adjunct instructor and former student I could easily relate to both sides of the issue. First, are there safeguards which allow a student to rate her/his instructor(s) only one time per class? And can the on-line evaluation sites detect students who are not in the instructor’s class and prevent them from submitting evaluations? There is something which makes me uneasy about allowing students to randomly evaluate instructors whenever they please. As we know, there is a thin line between a constructive evaluation and an unabashed flogging. We, as instructors, are supposed to know the difference. The question is then, do our students? Students obviously know who is evaluating their progress. On the other hand, we, as instructors, have no idea which students are evaluating our work. Perhaps on-line evaluation sites should require students to register and log on with a password. At least this could, possibly, keep students from stuffing on-line sites with bogus evaluations. It might also bring some fairness to the equation.

- John R. Wiley, Yavapai Community College, Prescott, Arizona

Thanks to NAFTA Adjuncts Can Head North

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