Student evaluations

SC 130 Physical Science spring 2010 had 29 students. The students answered fifteen questions using a Likert scale provided by the college. All faculty are evaluated by the students using these same fifteen questions.The Likert scale was converted to number ratings from one to five and then averaged by the college.

Question	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Usually	Always	Avg
1. Keeps regular schedule, every class day.				1	28	4.97
2. Shows interest in the subject.					29	5.00
3. Gives individual help as needed.				1	28	4.97
4. Avails himself/herself for student conferences.				1	28	4.97
5. Welcomes questions, suggestions and discussions from students.					29	5.00
6. Shows interest and respect for students.				1	28	4.97
7. Helps the students in meeting individual learning needs.				1	28	4.97
8. Uses classroom/lab time fully.			1		28	4.93
9. Provides clear directions for assignments and instruction.			1		28	4.93
10. Grades fairly and frequently.				1	28	4.97
11. Makes the purpose of the course clear.				1	28	4.97
12. Talks clearly and at an easy-to-follow speed.				1	28	4.97
13. Lessons are well paced with activity as well as lecture.				1	28	4.97
14. Makes the course interesting.					29	5.00
15. Textbook was appropriate and helpful.				1	28	4.97
Overall average rating						4.97

At the bottom of the form the students are allowed to add comments. I have included those comments below. I deleted comments that were of comparative nature to other faculty. The college is small and other faculty would recognize themselves in those comments.

He's a very good and respectful teacher! This is an interesting course; Mr. Lee Ling's method of instruction was a perfect one. Every week I have to learn something new and I actually learned. I really enjoy his class while I learn a lot throughout the semester. Very encouragable teacher academic and physical activities; He's a hard working teacher. Teaches understandable. Students would love to have classes with him. Keep up the good work; The right teacher for this course. Dana has been a good professor of physical science and I believe that no other teacher can teach this course the way he did. He always keeps me interested in the course, and allowed his students to tour the interesting world of physics taking the best route and journey. Clear, understandable and fun. Loved it. This class is fun and interesting. He is a nice good instructor. He make this class so easy and fun for students. So please he should keep up the good work; This is really the best class. Really interesting, fun. I learned a lot. The labs were all interesting. I enjoyed this class. homeworks, quizzes, test, were all understanding. Dana should continue teaching this class forever; Excellent instructor!; One of the most interesting classes I've been in. Learned new things everyday.

While very encouraging, I always look to constructive criticism as a way of learning what I might do differently or what I might improve. While the above survey is conducted by the college as is very interesting, my own liked and disliked laboratories survey often provides more information on what I can do differently, what I can do better. All positive comments lift up, but leave little room for anywhere to go but down.

The highly positive response on number fifteen is encouraging as the textbook is one written by me specifically for the course. I should note that fall 2001 data indicates that our students tend to rate high with an average of 4.49 on question fifteen. The average fall 2001 for all faculty in the science and math division on all questions was 4.51 with a standard deviation of 0.3, an indication of the high average and low variation exhibited by this data.Thus the 4.49 average on question fifteen was not statistically significantly different from the overall average that term. The spring 2010 average of 4.97 for the textbook would be hard to improve upon.

MS 150 Statistics spring 2010  student evaluations reported on 38 evaluations out of 67 students who completed the course. As with all of the student evaluations, students who withdrew from the course during the term are not included in the student evaluations survey.

Question	Never	Rarely	Sometime	Usually	Always	Avg
1. Keeps regular schedule, every class day.				1	37	4.97
2. Shows interest in the subject.				2	36	4.95
3. Gives individual help as needed.			3	1	34	4.82
4. Avails himself/herself for student conferences.	1		1	2	34	4.79
5. Welcomes questions, suggestions and discussions from students.				2	36	4.95
6. Shows interest and respect for students.			1	2	35	4.89
7. Helps the students in meeting individual learning needs.			1	3	34	4.87
8. Uses classroom/lab time fully.				2	36	4.95
9. Provides clear directions for assignments and instruction.				5	33	4.87
10. Grades fairly and frequently.				1	37	4.97
11. Makes the purpose of the course clear.				4	34	4.89
12. Talks clearly and at an easy-to-follow speed.				3	35	4.92
13. Lessons are well paced with activity as well as lecture.				4	34	4.89
14. Makes the course interesting.				3	35	4.92
15. Textbook was appropriate and helpful.				2	36	4.95
Overall average rating						4.91

Clearly there is a perceived need for more individual help, and a need to avail myself for student conferences. Item number four is one that generates discussion among faculty. The statistics course does not include individual scheduled student conferences. This is a feature of specific courses, often ones that deal with student research projects or capstone papers. Interpreting what the students were thinking when they answered this question is therefore problematic.

The clear pattern is a need to provide more individualized help.

Again, the textbook is written by me specifically for the course and is usually to always helpful - an encouraging result.

The student comments provide a sparse few additional details.

Keep up the good work; Interesting instructor; He is the best teacher I ever had; He a good instructor. He always make the course interesting and enjoyable; He is my best instructor; Excellent Teacher! Except he talks really fast; It will be great if he offer this class in the summer. I also strongly recommend him to continue teaching this course; He is the best teacher ever. he always be there when I needed help; Really like his teaching method. Its fun and clear to understand. Thank you so much Mr. Lee Ling. It's been a great, fabulous class. Loved it.; Very good instructor! Makes learning fun. I learned a lot; Keep up the good work!!; Instructor Lee Ling is an excellent instructor; The best!; He is a wonderful teacher that shows interest in every class sessions; Keep up the good work; This class is the best. So there is no comments; He is a good instructor.

The comment that I speak too quickly is one that I have received in the past and is an area upon which I continue to work. Virtually all of my students are using English as a second language. I cannot effectively shift to their L1 language to explain subtle points of statistics primarily because there are four or five L1 languages present in my classroom in any one section. Beyond this complication, I only speak a smattering of one of the languages, and even less of a second.