As the returns come in and the results are counted, all of us here at ETSU are left wondering, “Why in the heck do we have to do those stupid instructor assessment surveys in every class at the end of every semester.”
I, like many, many others, have several problems with these blue- and white-striped sheets of physcological warfare.
When one first begins to darken the seemingly thousands of bubbles designated with either AS (agree strongly with an item), A (agree moderately), D (disagree moderately) or DS (disagree strongly), the survey seems harmless enough.
The first and second items are fairly staightforward, since, 1) it was a worthwhile course and 2) I would take another course that was taught this way. General items that don’t require us college students to think too much – always a plus.
It is when we get to item 3 that the problems start.
“The instructor seemed to be interested in students as individuals,” is the way No. 3 reads.
What does this mean? We don’t care if the instructor is interested in us as individuals. In fact, many of us would find that more than a little unsettling. What we care about is whether or not the instructor is: lively enough to keep us from sleeping the entire period; speaks good English; and doesn’t require that we turn in a paper with the length and word count of Webster’s unabridged dictionary.
If that little string of thought processes isn’t stressful enough, we come to item 6 – “NOT much was gained by taking this course.”
Well, we obviously don’t have our grades yet since we are still sitting in the classroom, darkening bubbles until carpal-tunnel sets in, so to evaluate this item we must draw on our experience through the semester to see what type of emotional worth we have gathered.
I don’t know about anyone else but cumulous clouds, chi-square testing and transmissional messages give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Item 9 is a nice one.
“The instructor did not synthesize, integrate or summarize effectively.”
Maybe if the instructor could explain the meaning of this item we could darken in a big, fat AS and all go home happy.
The back of the survey is a bit less tedious because you actually get to write instead of darkening little bubbles like preschoolers with fat crayons.
Oh well, back to darkening little bubbles. “Bubbles suck really bad” – AS, AS, AS, AS, AS, AS.

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