Course evaluation average point- is it good or bad?

[Kron3007]

One thing that might help is to sort of explain to students why things are organized as they are. Just give them a sort of meta-commentary, especially for stuff that might seem alien to them. So, for example, I always explain to my students that the reason I don't want to see their names on their assignments is that I'm trying to grade them as fairly as possible, and I don't want my perception of their work to be influenced by what I think of their classroom performance. I explain all my formatting requirements in a similar way. They really appreciate that, and I think that in addition to bolstering their trust in my judgement, it helps them to feel included in the evaluation process.

A key word here is "might".  Some students perceive explanation as BS because they don't listen to the explanation.  Instead, those student wanted something else, the answer is no, and the reason behind the "no" matters not one whit.  Some students are quite annoyed at having to deal with multiple ways of doing things and the person who "creates the most work" will always lose.

One of my favorite recent papers pointed out that students learn more by being in more active classrooms, but many dislike the experience so much that they will give lower ratings to the objectively more effective teachers.

Yes, I think it is valuable to recognize that high student evaluations does not equal effective teaching.  The unfortunate part of this is that if your university is assessing you based on teaching evaluations, your best course of action is to appeal to this and adjust your approach to improve them rather than always doing what you think is the best for learning outcomes.  For example, having high expectations and being strict will not help your cause, so it is likely better to be a little more flexible and grade based on where they are rather than where you think they should be.  This is a major problem in modern academia leading to grade inflation etc., but it is not your problem and it is the system in which you live.

The silver lining, as others have mentioned, is that if this is considered low where you are (we generally aim for 4/5 or higher, but some courses are always lower) you have room to improve.  During any review, you are wise not to just state your scores, but how you are using the student feedback to improve your teaching methods (the actual value in them).  Hopefully over time you can show a good trajectory.   

[the-tenure-track-prof]

All comments about the level of students and adjusting my teaching to meet them where they are at were right and I am doing some self-assessment of how to improve my teaching method. I already know that I need to reduce the reading load and the level of difficulty because I realize now that they couldn't keep up with that.
There is another issue that it was completely out of my control that caused some frustration in one course that I taught this semester. In May I`ve received the list of courses that I`ll teach this semester from the director of the graduate program. This director failed to tell me that the course is Hybrid. I started to teach the course and then two weeks into the semester some students started to ask me if the course could be taught as a Hybrid course which means to meet bi-weekly. I informed students back then that the course is designed to be face to face course because that`s what I was told from the Director who I had no reason to think that he could give me wrong information. After 3 weeks he emailed me and only then I realized that the course is a Hybrid course. I informed him that this was not what I was told in May, he apologized about it and stated that he "might have forgotten" to tell me that. I`ve found myself in a strange situation with students and decided to tell them that after some consideration to their request, the class will start to meet every other week. This was during the 3rd week of classes.
My question is: the main complaint from students was about the course structure was not clear and there was confusion about it (Hybrid versus face to face). My mentor who I shared this issue with advised me to address this issue in my faculty review report. How do I address this issue in my faculty evaluation report constructively without accusatory tone and without sounding as I am blaming the director of the program for misinforming me about the course and causing confusion in my class. Note that I`ve never addressed this issue with anybody at the department, nor I told the students that I was misinformed by the director of the program.

[dr_codex]

All comments about the level of students and adjusting my teaching to meet them where they are at were right and I am doing some self-assessment of how to improve my teaching method. I already know that I need to reduce the reading load and the level of difficulty because I realize now that they couldn't keep up with that.
There is another issue that it was completely out of my control that caused some frustration in one course that I taught this semester. In May I`ve received the list of courses that I`ll teach this semester from the director of the graduate program. This director failed to tell me that the course is Hybrid. I started to teach the course and then two weeks into the semester some students started to ask me if the course could be taught as a Hybrid course which means to meet bi-weekly. I informed students back then that the course is designed to be face to face course because that`s what I was told from the Director who I had no reason to think that he could give me wrong information. After 3 weeks he emailed me and only then I realized that the course is a Hybrid course. I informed him that this was not what I was told in May, he apologized about it and stated that he "might have forgotten" to tell me that. I`ve found myself in a strange situation with students and decided to tell them that after some consideration to their request, the class will start to meet every other week. This was during the 3rd week of classes.
My question is: the main complaint from students was about the course structure was not clear and there was confusion about it (Hybrid versus face to face). My mentor who I shared this issue with advised me to address this issue in my faculty review report. How do I address this issue in my faculty evaluation report constructively without accusatory tone and without sounding as I am blaming the director of the program for misinforming me about the course and causing confusion in my class. Note that I`ve never addressed this issue with anybody at the department, nor I told the students that I was misinformed by the director of the program.

Wow. I had some suggestions before, which echoed those of other posters and were pretty standard, but this is wild.

If this is all on the level, I would suggest putting the bolded question to your helpful mentor. Again, a lot depends on how your institution handles these processes, and what your local politics are. I could spin out many hypotheticals, but they are unlikely to be accurate for you situation.

Just to add: I would be panicking if I were to try to shift a face-to-face course to a hybrid, especially if I'd never taught it before. Around these parts, "hybrid" means a lot more than meeting half as much. That's not a small mistake, and as a student I'd be more than a little unimpressed. There should be several mechanisms inside your institution to catch this kind of thing: where was your Registrar, or the people running your CMS? I'm not saying that I've never heard a story like this, because I have, but a LOT of people were called in to handle the clean-up.

Last thought: While you devote appropriate attention to the reading load, pacing, and guidance in your courses, you should probably devote some time to getting the low-down on how your job works. Tap that mentor, who should be telling you about how student evaluations work at your place, how course assignments and delivery methods are assigned and publicized, and other things that are fundamental to your earning tenure (or not).

Good luck,
dc

[KiUlv]

Due to a mess up in scheduling, I have no choice but to teach a hybrid in the coming semester. I have no clue how I'm going to structure it, but I better figure it out quickly! We're actually supposed to have some training before being "approved" to teach hybrid courses. Many of the students registered for it are unhappy because it wasn't supposed to be a hybrid.

[the-tenure-track-prof]

I`ve just received the course evaluation scores for each course and there were not as bad as I thought it might be. In two courses I`ve received an overall average of 3.6/4, one is a graduate course and one is an undergraduate course. In the two other courses, the course evaluation scores were 2.8 and 2.7 out of 4. The comments from all courses were reasonable and a mixture of compliments and suggestions but nothing too negative. When I`ve reviewed the comments in the master`s level course that was problematic (the hybrid that I didn't know that it was hybrid and that had more enrolled students than the number that I was told the course will have). I`ve read negative comments from a group of students that sounded personal to me and nothing really about the course per se. There were other evaluations from students who said that they enjoyed the course, they think that other students were very harsh with their judgment on the professor (me) and that the course is important and that I am very bright.
What stood out to me is not only the harshness of some comments but also outright lies in broad daylight of interactions that never happened (such as I forced a student to come and see me when the student had to be at work- NEVER HAPPENED and it is against my very core values to ask a student to do that). Another lie was that I play favors in grades. All students in this course with no exception got an "A" because I was forgiving in grading which I am reconsidering now. What am I missing??
I taught in other research universities before I arrived at this teaching university and I remember reading one comment from a student back then that was false. But now I read a couple of false comments of events that never happened and some harsh judgment and attack on my character and on me as a woman. I am honestly feeling hurt. I have invested so much in preparations (200 hours) before the semester even started. My question is: did this happened to anyone here in this forum?. How do you understand students` vicious comments?

[dr_codex]

I`ve just received the course evaluation scores for each course and there were not as bad as I thought it might be. In two courses I`ve received an overall average of 3.6/4, one is a graduate course and one is an undergraduate course. In the two other courses, the course evaluation scores were 2.8 and 2.7 out of 4. The comments from all courses were reasonable and a mixture of compliments and suggestions but nothing too negative. When I`ve reviewed the comments in the master`s level course that was problematic (the hybrid that I didn't know that it was hybrid and that had more enrolled students than the number that I was told the course will have). I`ve read negative comments from a group of students that sounded personal to me and nothing really about the course per se. There were other evaluations from students who said that they enjoyed the course, they think that other students were very harsh with their judgment on the professor (me) and that the course is important and that I am very bright.
What stood out to me is not only the harshness of some comments but also outright lies in broad daylight of interactions that never happened (such as I forced a student to come and see me when the student had to be at work- NEVER HAPPENED and it is against my very core values to ask a student to do that). Another lie was that I play favors in grades. All students in this course with no exception got an "A" because I was forgiving in grading which I am reconsidering now. What am I missing??
I taught in other research universities before I arrived at this teaching university and I remember reading one comment from a student back then that was false. But now I read a couple of false comments of events that never happened and some harsh judgment and attack on my character and on me as a woman. I am honestly feeling hurt. I have invested so much in preparations (200 hours) before the semester even started. My question is: did this happened to anyone here in this forum?. How do you understand students` vicious comments?

"Everybody gets an A" sounds like you're doing the students a favor, but consider:

1. Student X puts in a ton of work. Student Y does little. Both get the same grade. How do all the students feel?
2. Students X and Y put in the same amount of work. Student X is clearly the standout in the class; student Y makes complementary comments about the course all semester. Both get the same grade. How do all the students feel?
2. Student X and Y are up for a TAship / RAship / Graduate Fellowship. The application process is internal, and competitive. The committee only has grades to go on.

I knew somebody in grad school who gave everybody an A in every grad course. The faculty member didn't believe in a competitive environment. Some students excelled in that structure; others chafed.

[Kron3007]

I`ve just received the course evaluation scores for each course and there were not as bad as I thought it might be. In two courses I`ve received an overall average of 3.6/4, one is a graduate course and one is an undergraduate course. In the two other courses, the course evaluation scores were 2.8 and 2.7 out of 4. The comments from all courses were reasonable and a mixture of compliments and suggestions but nothing too negative. When I`ve reviewed the comments in the master`s level course that was problematic (the hybrid that I didn't know that it was hybrid and that had more enrolled students than the number that I was told the course will have). I`ve read negative comments from a group of students that sounded personal to me and nothing really about the course per se. There were other evaluations from students who said that they enjoyed the course, they think that other students were very harsh with their judgment on the professor (me) and that the course is important and that I am very bright.
What stood out to me is not only the harshness of some comments but also outright lies in broad daylight of interactions that never happened (such as I forced a student to come and see me when the student had to be at work- NEVER HAPPENED and it is against my very core values to ask a student to do that). Another lie was that I play favors in grades. All students in this course with no exception got an "A" because I was forgiving in grading which I am reconsidering now. What am I missing??
I taught in other research universities before I arrived at this teaching university and I remember reading one comment from a student back then that was false. But now I read a couple of false comments of events that never happened and some harsh judgment and attack on my character and on me as a woman. I am honestly feeling hurt. I have invested so much in preparations (200 hours) before the semester even started. My question is: did this happened to anyone here in this forum?. How do you understand students` vicious comments?

"Everybody gets an A" sounds like you're doing the students a favor, but consider:

1. Student X puts in a ton of work. Student Y does little. Both get the same grade. How do all the students feel?
2. Students X and Y put in the same amount of work. Student X is clearly the standout in the class; student Y makes complementary comments about the course all semester. Both get the same grade. How do all the students feel?
2. Student X and Y are up for a TAship / RAship / Graduate Fellowship. The application process is internal, and competitive. The committee only has grades to go on.

I knew somebody in grad school who gave everybody an A in every grad course. The faculty member didn't believe in a competitive environment. Some students excelled in that structure; others chafed.

This is exactly why I thought when I read it.  This can definitely be seen as playing favorites in grades if some people get a similar grade without putting in as much effort.