LANE 462

Evaluating Your Own Teaching

By: http://SBANJAR.kau.edu.sa/
Dr. Shadia Yousef Banjar http://wwwdrshadiabanjar.blogspot.com

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 A Definition of "Evaluation"
•Doing good evaluation is like doing good research.
In both cases, you are trying to answer some
important questions about an important topic.
•The key to doing both activities well is:
(a) identifying the right questions to ask and
(b) figuring out how to answer them.

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 WHAT ARE THE KEY QUESTIONS IN THE
EVALUATION OF TEACHING?
Basically they are:
1. "How well am I teaching?
2. Which aspects of my teaching are good and
which need to be improved?“
The first question attempts to provide a global
assessment, while the second is analytical and
diagnostic in character.

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 Why Evaluate?
•Teachers should evaluate their teaching for two
reasons:
•to document the quality of one’s teaching to
others in a portfolio.
•to perform a better job and to have a more
enjoyable experience.

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 THE EFFECT OF EVALUATION ON
OUR TEACHING

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 How to Evaluate?
There are five basic sources of
information that teachers can use to
evaluate their teaching. All evaluation
efforts use one or more of these basic
sources. Each of these five sources has a
unique value as well as an inherent
limitation.

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 These five sources of information are:
1. self-monitoring,
2. audio-tape/video-tape,
3. information from students,
4. students’ test results, and
5. outside observers.

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 Techniques
Unique Value and
Appropriate Response to
Recommended Limitations
Limitations
Frequency
1. Self-monitoring
Each of The
five sources of Audio-tape/video-tape
2.
information
has its unique 3. Information from students
a. Questionnaires
value, (1) Beginning of year
(2) Mid-year
recommended (3) End-of-year
b. Interviews
frequency,
4. Students' test results
limitation, and
appropriate 5. Outside observers
a. Fellow faculty member
response to b. Admin./Senior Fac.
Member
that limitation. c. OU Instruc. Devel. Prog.

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 Self-monitoring
Self-monitoring is what people do semi-automatically
and semi-consciously whenever they teach. Most of
their mental activity is concerned with making the
presentation or leading the discussion. But one portion
of their mental attention is concerned with:
a. "How is it going?“
b. "Are they with me?"
c. "Am I losing them?“
d. "Are they interested or bored?"

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 Self-monitoring
• Unique Value
a. The first value is immediate and constant attention concerned
with “How is it going?”, “Are they with me”, “Are they interested
or bored”, etc.
b. A second value is created by the teacher by looking at the
situation and say “This is what is happening”
• Frequency
This does and should happen all the time. We may only take a
mental pause every few minutes to size up the situation. But by
comparison with the other sources of information this takes
place continuously.
• Limitation
Personal judgment may lack complete objectivity
• Appropriate Response
To turn to an objective source of information without subjective
bias.

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 Audio-tape/video-tape
•Special value
Putting a video or audio recorder gives the teacher a totally objective
information: what she said, how much time she spent in a topic, and
how often she moved around.
•Frequency. an audio recording is preferably twice in each semester
course. This gives a chance to see if any speech problems are there,
the second recording is to check if they are under control. Video
recordings are probably useful once every year or two.
•Limitation
Despite that the audio/video tape shows the actual behavior, it does not
show the effect of that behavior on students
•Appropriate Response
To get a source of information that shows the effect of behavior (i.e. the
students themselves)
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 Information from students
•Special value:
The student is the best person to judge whether the teaching is exciting or dull.
The teacher can get the student opinion through two ways: questionnaires &
interviews
a. questionnaires include students characteristics (e.g. major, GPA, reasons for
taking the course), students characteristics of the teaching (e.g. clear, organized,
interesting), amount learned, overall assessment of the course and/or the teacher.
Special value is in obtaining responses of the whole class
The limitation is that they can only ask a question once.
b. interviews either by the teacher or an outside person
Special value is in identifying unanticipated strengths & weaknesses, probing and
following-up on topics that need clarification.
The limitation is that they can be used only with a sub-set of the class, not the
whole class.
•General limitations
is that students may have negative feelings about women, for example, or people
who are ethically different from themselves.
Also, the students can address what is taught but not what might be taught
•Appropriate Response
To seek for the information from someone with a professional understanding of the
possibilities of good teaching.
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 Students’ test results
•Special value
Tests results assess the quality of student learning and, accordingly, assess
the quality of teaching.
•Frequency. Weekly or even daily feedback is much more effective to know
whether students are learning what they need to learn as the course goes
along considering that not all tests need to be graded and recorded!
•Limitation
The students may have low or good grade, but not because the teacher was
bad or good.
•Appropriate response
Students themselves have to answer the question of whether the teacher was
helpful.

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 Outside observers
•Special value
The outsider has no personal issue, so s/he is free to reach positive and
negative conclusions . Also, being professional, s/he can bring the
expertise that supplements both the teacher and the students.
•Limitation
The outside observer can only visit one or two class sessions, and not the
rest of the course.
•Appropriate response
To use a different source either a different kind of outside observer or one
of the other sources.

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 Conclusion
Each source of information offers a special
kind of information that none of the others
do. Thus, it is recommended to refer to all
of the five sources.

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EVALUATING YOUR OWN TEACHING
By L. Dee Fink
Published in Improving College Teaching by Peter Seldin (ed.).
Reprinted here with permission of the University of Oklahoma Instructional
Development Program, July 20, 1999.
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/evalu
ate.htm

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