Teaching Evaluations
University of Pittsburgh (1999-2007)
Millersville University (2005 & 2008)
Kirkwood Community College (2007-2009)
Washigton & Jefferson College (2009-2010)
University of Pittsburgh
Teaching evaluations can contribute to the professional development of a teacher if they are carefully designed and contextualized. Over the years, I have had generally positive feedback and sometimes constructive critical comments from my students in my courses. However, some students’ negative commentsrelate more to aspects of course design, which is not always under my control as a teaching fellow, rather than to the quality of instruction.
Because students’ comments often provide valuable information about the learning process, I do not wait until the semester ends to request this information. I regularly ask students to provide anonymous informal assessments and answer evaluation questions throughout the semester. This process helps me to alter my course plan during the semester in order to serve my students’ needs better. This form of feedback can also identify specific areas of concern and difficulties that students might have, e.g. which aspect of the course they find difficult. In this way, the official course evaluation is augmented by an ongoing informal assessment process.
Since beginning my career in graduate school, I have had the opportunity to teach many different courses at varying levels of difficulty (see table below).
Undergraduate Courses at the University of Pittsburgh
| Fall 99 | German 1 | First semester language/5 cr. | |
| Spring 00 | German 0102 | Second semester language/3 cr.* | |
| Fall 00 | German 2 | Second semester language/5 cr. | |
| Spring 01 | German 2 | Second semester language/5 cr. | |
| Summer 01 | German 2 | Second semester language/5 cr. | |
| Fall 01 | Intermediate German 1 | Third semester language/3 cr. | |
| Spring 02 | Intermediate German 2 | Fourth semester language/3 cr. | |
| Summer 02 | German 2 | Second semester language/5 cr. | |
| Fall 02 | Intermediate German 1 | Third semester language/3 cr. | |
| Spring 03 | Intermediate German 2 | Fourth semester language/3cr. | |
| Summer 03 | German 0022 | German for reading knowledge 4 cr. | |
| Fall 03 | Intermediate German 2 | Fourth semester language/3 cr. | |
| Spring 04 | Intermediate German 2 | Fourth semester language/ 3cr. | |
| Spring 04 | German 1103 | Advanced tutorial for the Augsburg exchange program/1 cr.* | |
| Summer 04 | German 2 | Second semester language/5 cr.* | |
| Fall 04 | Intermediate German 2 | Fourth semester language/3 cr. | |
| Spring 05 | German 1102 | Advanced German: Structures – fourth year/3. cr. | |
| Fall 05 | German 1101 | Advanced German: Media – fourth year/3. cr. | |
| Spring 06 | German 0011 | Conversation – second year/3 cr. | |
| Summer 06 | German 2 | Second semester language/5 cr. | |
| Fall 06 | Intermediate German 2 | Fourth semester language/3 cr. | |
| Spring 07 | Intermediate German 2 | Fourth semester language/3 cr. | |
| Summer 07 | German 2 | Second semester language/5 cr.* |
*Class too small for quantitative evaluation
Selected results of student evaluations from my courses are presented below. Figure 1 displays the mean score for “overall teaching effectiveness” averaged over all the courses I have taught and compared to the university mean. I selected this particular item because I felt it was the single best indictor of teaching capability and an excellent summary statistic due to its high positive correlation with other scale items (e.g., “Presented the course in an organized manner”, “maintained a good learning environment”, etc.). Possible scores range from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. This figure clearly shows that, on the whole, my students consider me a highly effective teacher, rating me well above the university average.
Figure 1
Figure 2 shows the mean score for "overall teaching effectiveness" plotted for each course individually. It is clear from this figure that scores are consistently high, falling for the most part between 4 and 5, well above the university average (represented in Figure 2 by the horizontal line). The trend toward lower scores over time may be related to a few different factors. For instance, as I gained more experience, I began to teach more advanced courses with a higher difficulty level, and my learning expectations were appropriately more demanding. The lower mean scores for Fall 2003 and Spring 2004 are related to the fact that in these semesters I had my first opportunity to design a course on my own (Intermediate German 2). However, after refining and improving the course, teaching effectiveness scores increased again (Fall 2005). In spring 2005, the two sections of my Advanced German: Structures course had to be combined due to the sudden medical leave of the other instructor. Understandably, students reacted negatively to this drastic change. However, I would like to point out that even during these particularly challenging semesters, my "overall teaching effectiveness" did not deviate substantially from the school average.
Figure 2
Figure 3 shows a complete summary of responses to the question on the evaluation form "Would you recommend this instructor to other students?" compiled over all the courses I have taught. The figure clearly shows that the overwhelming majority of my students would recommend me as an instructor. This indicates that my students are satisfied in general with me as their instructor.
Figure 3
Copies of evaluations are available upon request.