Authors

  1. Prather, Susan EdD, RN, CNE

Article Content

Student evaluations of faculty can provide important commentary on the value of an educational experience. However, as faculty, we need to be open, objective, and receptive to student feedback. Faculty should implement an open and attentive posture in response to students' ratings and comments about their educational experience. This process will improve the value of student evaluations. On receiving your evaluations, peruse them and put them away for a week. Then, the following week, review them and highlight areas of concern or suggestions. This review is important, because during your initial review you may have to be sensitive and guarded. This could limit your objectivity and openness to concerns and suggestions. As faculty, when we create a defensive approach, we miss the value of student evaluations. Our academic environments will continue to have varied, reactive student emotions that may be shared as feedback in faculty evaluations. Hence, we should have insight, vision, and a pedagogical spirit to appreciate the value of students' evaluations. Student evaluations can provide valuable information for course development and sustainment. Some of my most impactful course and evaluation changes were implemented in response to students' evaluations. Give it a try: Start with a brief initial perusal of student evaluations and then in a week highlight the student ratings and comments. This approach will create a beneficial and objective evaluative experience for faculty. This process can also serve as a valuable tool for faculty professional growth and development.