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What If Students Could Fire Their Professors?

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Re: What If Students Could Fire Their Professors?

#2

Post by ColinWright »

Here's the take-away quotation for me:

    The better the professors were, as measured by their
    students' grades in later classes, the lower their
    ratings from students.

    "If you make your students do well in their academic
    career, you get worse evaluations from your students,"
    Pellizzari said.  Students, by and large, don't enjoy
    learning from a taskmaster, even if it does them some
    good.

Re: What If Students Could Fire Their Professors?

#4

Post by Siecje »

ColinWright wrote: post #2

Here's the take-away quotation for me: The better the professors were, as measured by their students' grades in later classes, the lower their ratings from students. "If you make your students do well in their academic career, you get worse evaluations from your students," Pellizzari said. Students, by and large, don't enjoy learning from a taskmaster, even if it does them some good.

I don't think that applies at the college/university level.

Evaluations are at the end of the course and you will know if you have learned a lot.

The problem is profs just reading the textbook or parts of the textbook in a powerpoint, without challenging students.

Re: What If Students Could Fire Their Professors?

#6

Post by Sir_Substance »

ColinWright wrote: post #2

Here's the take-away quotation for me: The better the professors were, as measured by their students' grades in later classes, the lower their ratings from students. "If you make your students do well in their academic career, you get worse evaluations from your students," Pellizzari said. Students, by and large, don't enjoy learning from a taskmaster, even if it does them some good.

The methodology is flawed. If a lecturer really is terrible, then more people will fail that course and not go on to do the advanced course, artificially raising the average for the advanced course because only the best students are able to pass the prerequisite DESPITE the terrible lecturer.

Re: What If Students Could Fire Their Professors?

#7

Post by bunderbunder »

I've heard about (but not yet read) studies indicating a similar relationship between patient satisfaction and outcome for medical professionals to the one between student satisfaction and outcome. There's a pretty strong negative correlation between the two.

Frankly, I'm not surprised. Back when I was TAing and tutoring, it was pretty clear to me that a great many students just wanted the high mark, and were much less concerned with how they got it. And I've had way too many conversations with people complaining about a doctor refusing to prescribe antibiotics for a viral infection.

Re: What If Students Could Fire Their Professors?

#8

Post by bvrlt »

Siecje wrote: post #4
ColinWright wrote: post #2

Here's the take-away quotation for me: The better the professors were, as measured by their students' grades in later classes, the lower their ratings from students. "If you make your students do well in their academic career, you get worse evaluations from your students," Pellizzari said. Students, by and large, don't enjoy learning from a taskmaster, even if it does them some good.

I don't think that applies at the college/university level. Evaluations are at the end of the course and you will know if you have learned a lot. The problem is profs just reading the textbook or parts of the textbook in a powerpoint, without challenging students.

Even at the college/university level I have seen students complaining about professors that were fairly good, sometimes just because the grading was a bit tough.

Re: What If Students Could Fire Their Professors?

#9

Post by sklogic »

Siecje wrote: post #4
ColinWright wrote: post #2

Here's the take-away quotation for me: The better the professors were, as measured by their students' grades in later classes, the lower their ratings from students. "If you make your students do well in their academic career, you get worse evaluations from your students," Pellizzari said. Students, by and large, don't enjoy learning from a taskmaster, even if it does them some good.

I don't think that applies at the college/university level. Evaluations are at the end of the course and you will know if you have learned a lot. The problem is profs just reading the textbook or parts of the textbook in a powerpoint, without challenging students.

By the end of the course they'd only know they've got an exam to pass and they'll hate it. Students should not have any say in anything related to their courses, professors, marking, workload and such.
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