The Student Opinion of Instructor Surveys can give some useful information. I have used them to improve classes, in particular BIOL 101: Human Perspectives in Biology. The results of the surveys typically confirm what I previously determined. For example, I have always believed that I presented the course material the best in the BIOL 355 and BIOL 357: Microbiology lecture and lab than in any other of my courses. The data from the surveys support my conclusion. Click here for a reflection on this topic.
Another conclusion can be made from averaging all of the data for each semester and comparing the averages to one another. This conclusion is that my students now rate me higher as an instructor than they did my first semester teaching at ACU. Since Spring of 2012, my ratings have plateaued. This was not too surprising. I felt like I survived my first semester of teaching, and that I could have only gotten better. I hope someone learned something along the way besides me that semester. I do feel like I am a little better of an instructor every semester compared to the last, but that small change may not be reflected in the student surveys.
With these student surveys I try to look at overall trends. I try not to too quickly dismiss negative critiques nor dwell on the overwhelmingly positive statements either. Overall, I feel like I have received very strong (and gracious) student reviews in these surveys.
