Unlike the previous year, this past year I remembered to distribute evaluations for all my courses but none of the students in one class returned one and the others were, as I expected, fairly limited in number. I believe this has to do with the fact the students possibly are not paying much attention to this part of the courses (although I give explicit directions about the process). In order to assure the students that nobody will tamper with the results nor that anyone will take it out on them if they are less than kind in thier remarks, I place evaluation forms in their mailfolders and ask that they place the evaluations in a mailfolder I placed in the same bin as their folders are. I do this after the grades have been turned in so that there is definitely no possibility of grade bias based on the outcome of the evaluations. I think this process works very well for me. Maybe this approach does not fit everyone.
This is the form I used for each class and the results are tabulated by student or form "number". There were 3/18 from Nonconventional Imaging, 2/6 from Photoinstrumentation and 6/25 from High Speed/Time Lapse.
The following statement is included as the header of each survey form: Dear Student, I am placing this in your mailfolder to ask for your assistance in completing a part of the _Name of the Course_ Photography course that you were enrolled in this past quarter. It has to do with gathering your reactions to my teaching performance. I prefer to conduct this portion of the process after the course grades have been turned in because I would like your evaluation to be based on the total experience and also tempered somewhat by a reasonable time period afterwards.
So, would you please take a few minutes to fill out this form and add whatever personal comments you care to make at the bottom and then place this form in a mailfolder I have placed in the mailbin where the student folders for the Imaging and Photographic Technology (JPHT) students are kept. Thank you. ============================================================= Course title: Survey of Nonconventional Imaging Instructor: Andrew Davidhazy Date: Spring 1998-99 Section 1 (please circle the appropriate response) I took this course: 1. as a required course 2. as an elective 1, 2, 3 Effort I gave this course: 1. 100% 2. 75% 3. 50% 4. 25% 1. 0% 1 2 3 I expected to receive a grade of: A B C D F Inc. 1,2 3 I received a grade of: A B C D F Inc. 1 2 3 Section 2 I feel the subject matter for this course is: 1. Mostly outdated, irrelevant and not useful. 2. Not relevant to my degree program but possibly useful in future. 3. Not relevant to my degree program but was somewhat useful 4. Relevant and useful 1,2,3 5. Extremely relevant, useful and interesting. The laboratory part of the course was 1. Extremely important and an effective part of the course 2. Related very well to the lectures and were useful (no labs in course!) 1,3 3. Related to the lectures and were somewhat useful 2 4. Did not supplement the lectures but were somewhat useful 5. Did not relate to the subject at hand and were useless The depth of the content was 5. Excellent given course goals 4. Good and beyond basics 3. Satisfactory 2,3 2. Not deep enough 1 1. Very cursory The level of difficulty was 5. Way over my head 4. Challenging but doable 3. Somewhat difficult 2 2. Average 1,3 1. Much too simple My overall rating for this course is 5. Excellent 4. Above average 1 3. Average 2,3 2. Below average 1. Poor Section 3 How do you feel about the competence of the instructor in terms of knowing the subject matter? 5. Very knowledgeable 1,2 4. Knowledgeable 3 3. Average 2. Struggled with content 1. Not qualified How do you feel about the instructor's preparation for class and handling of classroom procedures? 5. Well organized 4. Moderately organized 1,2 3. Average 2. Somewhat inadequate 3 1. Confusing Please write additional personal comments on the back of this form and return the form to my mailfolder included in the JPHT mail bins for student mail located in the southeast corner of the SPAS building. Comments: 2: I think that too many people slack in this class because it is their senior year and don't think its necessary for graduation. Unfortunately this reflects in their grades. 3: While andy knows his material he is not always able to relate that knowledge to his students. His lectures seem unprepared and he often takes a tangent and then forgets where he was going and why he started talking about it in the first place. This is extremely frustrating for students. Also, I think his method of grading needs to be revisited. He has explained why he grades the way he does, but the bottom line, I don't think that a class grade should be entirely based on _one_ final exam. The midterm and papers should count for something. ============================================================== Course title: Photoinstrumentation Applications Seminar Instructor: Andrew Davidhazy Date: Fall 1999-2000 Section 1 (please circle the appropriate response) I took this course: 1. as a required course 2. as an elective 1,2 Effort I gave this course: 1. 100% 2. 75% 3. 50% 4. 25% 1. 0% 1,2 I expected to receive a grade of: A B C D F Inc. 1 2 I received a grade of: A B C D F Inc. 1,2 Section 2 I feel the subject matter for this course is: 1. Mostly outdated, irrelevant and not useful. 2. Not relevant to my degree program but possibly useful in future. 3. Not relevant to my degree program but was somewhat useful 4. Relevant and useful 2 5. Extremely relevant, useful and interesting. 1 The laboratory (if there was one) part of the course was 1. Extremely important and an effective part of the course 1 2. Related very well to the lectures and were useful 2 3. Related to the lectures and were somewhat useful 4. Did not supplement the lectures but were somewhat useful 5. Did not relate to the subject at hand and were useless The depth of the content was 5. Excellent given course goals 4. Good and beyond basics 2 3. Satisfactory 1 2. Not deep enough 1. Very cursory The level of difficulty was 5. Way over my head 4. Challenging but doable 2 3. Somewhat difficult 2. Average 1 1. Much too simple The exams given for this course were: 5. Completely unrelated to the material covered in class 2. Only cursorily covered material that was covered in class 3. Appropriate for what one would expect for a class at this level 1 4. While related to the material covered in class the questions were much too difficult 5. An insult to my intelligence 2 How much material that you did not have personal experience or awareness of was introduced in class? 5. All the material was new to me. 1 4. Most of the materail was new to me although I had heard about some of it before. 3. Some of the material was new to me even though I had heard about parts of it before. 2 2. I already had a significant background in most of the material presented. 1. The material was a matter of general knowledge and the course did not add any new information at all. Section 3 How do you feel the instuctor introduced the course objectives and grading procedures? 4. The objectives, outline, attendance and grading procedures were thoroughly explained. 1,2 3. The instructor did not introduce or explain the objectives of the course. 2. The objectives and grading procedures were not followed by the instructor. 1. I was absent on the first day of class. How do you feel about the competence of the instructor in terms of knowing the subject matter? 5. Very knowledgeable 1,2 4. Knowledgeable 3. Average 2. Struggled with content 1. Not qualified How do you feel about the instructor's preparation for class and handling of classroom procedures? 5. Well organized 4. Moderately organized 2 3. Average 1 2. Somewhat inadequate 1. Confusing My overall rating for this course is 5. Excellent 1,2 4. Above average 3. Average 2. Below average 1. Poor Please write additional personal comments on the back of this form and return the form to my mailfolder included in the JPHT mail bins for student mail located in the southeast corner of the SPAS building. Comments: ============================================================= Course title: High Speed/Time Lapse Photography Instructor: Andrew Davidhazy Date: Fall 1999-2000 Section 1 (please circle the appropriate response) I took this course: 1. as a required course 2. as an elective 1,2,3,4,5,6 Effort I gave this course: 1. 100% 2. 75% 3. 50% 4. 25% 1. 0% 3,4 1,2 6 I expected to receive a grade of: A B C D F Inc. 3,4 1,5 2,6 I received a grade of: A B C D F Inc. 3,4,5 1,2,6 Section 2 I feel the subject matter for this course is: 1. Mostly outdated, irrelevant and not useful. 2. Not relevant to my degree program but possibly useful in future. 3. Not relevant to my degree program but was somewhat useful 4. Relevant and useful 2,3,4 5. Extremely relevant, useful and interesting. 1,5,6 The laboratory (if there was one) part of the course was 1. Extremely important and an effective part of the course 4 2. Related very well to the lectures and were useful 1,2,3,5 3. Related to the lectures and were somewhat useful 6 4. Did not supplement the lectures but were somewhat useful 5. Did not relate to the subject at hand and were useless The depth of the content was 5. Excellent given course goals 5 4. Good and beyond basics 1,2,3,4,6 3. Satisfactory 2. Not deep enough 1. Very cursory The level of difficulty was 5. Way over my head 4. Challenging but doable 1,3 3. Somewhat difficult 2,4 2. Average 5,6 1. Much too simple The exams given for this course were: 5. Completely unrelated to the material covered in class 2. Only cursorily covered material that was covered in class 3. Appropriate for what one would expect for a class at this level 1,2,3,4,5,6 4. While related to the material covered in class the questions were much too difficult 5. An insult to my intelligence How much material that you did not have personal experience or awareness of was introduced in class? 5. All the material was new to me. 5 4. Most of the materail was new to me although I had heard about some of it before. 1,2,3,6 3. Some of the material was new to me even though I had heard about parts of it before. 4 2. I already had a significant background in most of the material presented. 1. The material was a matter of general knowledge and the course did not add any new information at all. Section 3 How do you feel the instuctor introduced the course objectives and grading procedures? 4. The objectives, outline, attendance and grading procedures were thoroughly explained. 1,2,3,4,5,6 3. The instructor did not introduce or explain the objectives of the course. 2. The objectives and grading procedures were not followed by the instructor. 1. I was absent on the first day of class. How do you feel about the competence of the instructor in terms of knowing the subject matter? 5. Very knowledgeable 1,2,3,4,5,6 4. Knowledgeable 3. Average 2. Struggled with content 1. Not qualified How do you feel about the instructor's preparation for class and handling of classroom procedures? 5. Well organized 4. Moderately organized 1 3. Average 3,4,5,6 2. Somewhat inadequate 2 1. Confusing My overall rating for this course is 5. Excellent 1,5 4. Above average 4 3. Average 3,6 2. Below average 2 1. Poor Please write additional personal comments on the back of this form and return the form to my mailfolder included in the JPHT mail bins for student mail located in the southeast corner of the SPAS building. Comments: 3. A small outline handout at the beginning of each lecture with key terms and formulas would have been helpful for the teacher and the students. 3.Although the material was relevant and useful it could have been more up to date.