Interpreting Student Course Reports
Browsing through a stack of student rating forms usually does not immediately suggest a particular direction for refinements in courses or teaching methods. Numerical ratings provide no insight into why students responded the way they did. Furthermore, when examining students' responses to open-ended questions, inevitably some seem happy and some seem unhappy about particular aspects of the course, and typically it is impossible (and some might say irrelevant) to satisfy everyone.
Approaching student course reports with a somewhat detached attitude, and fighting the natural tendency to fret about negative comments, can be the first step toward making good use of their feedback. Many experts on teaching development and evaluation believe that student ratings say less about teaching performance and more about how novices are viewing the discipline and the learning environment. Viewing student ratings constructively in this way can better guide course planning and choice of teaching methods.