Just received my Semester 2 08/09 student evaluation of my teaching. Overall a B grade (out of a A, B, C, D, E grade). The sad thing is that for the fist time there are students who rated me at E. Just feel disappointed. Here one tries one's best to teach an extremely difficult subject (Research Methodology for Economics and Business), with hours of preparation and tutorials to teach students how to use SPSS.. and there are those who rate me as E!
Oh well, its a normal curve... LOL.There are also A's. Average out - B.
But it hurts. But as the saying goes, what hurts you but doesn't kill you just makes you stronger/better.
One student made a rather weird comment, "Lecturer keep on sneezing in class." I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that kind of a comment. I do admit there was a few times when I had the flu but struggled on to teach a class. Hey, I covered my nose when I sneezed. LOL.
Others were just not right, such as "Please make clear clarification of the assignment." Everything was prepared and informed in the first class (which many students did not attend) and posted on Morpheous (on-line website for class notes and teaching learning; which many students did not read). I find a common phrase among students when I ask them where did they hear / learn of my assignments - "Kawan saya bagi tahu (My friend told me)," which raises a question in my mind... why didnt you find out for yourself?
But these statements are the rarity. But I like them. Why? Even if it hurts, and I admit it does, it allows me to look into the preparation of my classes in the future and make my classes better. Sorry I couldn't make it the best for you now, but I tried.
Of course there was praises, but I learnt that just listening to praises is nice for the feeling and ego but doesn't help in the long run if I want to better myself. I must seek and obtain the criticisms in order to better myself. Hey, I know I am not a good lecturer (plus now with less and less time to prepare). I am learning to be better, with every class and every lecture.
Nevertheless I am sad for this batch of students. I find them too pampered, too lazy, too molly cuddled. There doesn't seem to be an urgency among them, to search for knowledge, to do more than expected. I fear for them when they go out to the real world and experience bosses who scold more, louder and coarser than me. Buts that's a teacher speaking. We worry for our students. They...
I wish them the best.
Ernest
5 comments:
oh prof, dun worry, as long as the salary still comes in, who cares. By the way, the dude rate u E, may not be a good student ... as he/she may never experianced how good is an A ? ... By the way, grades doesn't count how good is a student ... so does to lecturers :)
Prof.....think of Micheal Wong then..your ex-CMBA student and to-be PhD student...you will know grade then...:))
There are implications to this rating you know... it is used in the application form for promotion...
Hey There Ernest.
Recognition of ones intention and deeds often comes at a later date. There are times it is recognised in time and there are those that is never remembered. Very often, we will find hurt when we are misunderstood.
The current student population, as you aptly put it, are somewhat spoiled. Even cheating on written assignments are made easier by the internet, even then there are heaps of excuses being made for not handing it in. LOL
Can they really see beyond their own "hormones" at this time? Who knows. However to reach them should be easier if we speak their language instead of expecting them to speak ours.
Its a lot of hard work but will that be worth the effort? Who knows. My personal experience says that its fantastic. We need to utilise our innate marketing skills to reach them and package it so that they want it. LOL
Just to share , i invited my so called IT trainees to play a game of counterstrike at a cyber cafe. Whooped their ass :)
They wanted to know how just me and my wife can wipe 12 of them. It is revealed in class where they started to learn programming .. :)
Just my two cents
Amran
Prof, once ago i felt it's scary to enter your class as well... and of coz when face assignment time really so scary... but after enter the working life... Prof i really miss your class dy... hahaha....
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