Event

What Do Your Students Really Think of Your Classes? Achieving More Effective Course Evaluations

Saturday, July 26th, 2008, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Speaker: Susan Duggan, Iwate Prefectural University

Do you know what your students really think of your classes? Can you know this from conventional course evaluation forms? Are the course evaluation forms which many colleges and universities make their students fill out giving teachers accurate and meaningful feedback? If not, what can we do about it?

This workshop has two parts. In the first part, the presenter will bring up problems of standardized course evaluation forms with evidence from interviews with students. As students filled out a course evaluation form, they were asked, "What does this item mean?" and "Why did you choose that number for your answer?" Participants are invited to comment on and discuss the surprising results.

In the second part of the workshop, participants will consider how to improve course evaluation forms and how to attain more efficient feedback from students about classes. The presenter will offer models and aids for meaningful course evaluation. Participants may use these to improve on course evaluation forms or think of alternative methods of evaluation. If you have a course evaluation form which you would like to discuss or work on, you are welcome to do so.

By the end of the workshop, participants should be able to think more critically about course evaluation, and determine more confidently the best way to elicit their own students' opinions and observations on their learning.

Biodata: Susan Duggan has been an English teacher at Iwate Prefectural University since 2005 and also teaches "Preparation for Study at a University in an English-Speaking Country" at Iwate University, "English Education for Children" at Morioka University and German to the general public. After working as a high school teacher of English and German in Britain, she came to Iwate in 1991, where she worked in public and private high schools for thirteen years, first as an ALT and then as a high school teacher.

Organization: Akita Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Akita JALT)

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen, 500 yen for students

Venue: Room B103 at AIU (Akita International University)

Location: Akita City, Akita Prefecture, Japan

Contact Akita JALT

Suzuki Takeshi

Work phone: 0184-22-1562