Job Discussion Forums

[living&learning]

My 'supervisor' called me today to say some of my students at the university had complained to the 'secretary' of the foreign languages department that a Chinese teacher had been taking my classes, and that I had scheduled the semester test outside of class hours (why would I want to add to my workload, FFS?).

I told her straight up that was BS, and that I could either laugh it off, or we could get to the bottom of it. I decided on the latter.

Why should students get away with lying out their teeth anonymously to the university, in the hope of getting me in trouble? I suspect it's the slackers who missed the class before the final exam (and classes before that), where I layed out the details for the final exam (a presentation). This meant they would get a 'Fail' instead of a 'Pass' - which is all the foreign teachers are allowed to do, based on attendance and the final exam/presentation. Bitter, I suspect..

I told the sup' to give me some straight answers. I guess some of y'all would just laugh it off, eh?

Edit: maybe I've been here so long I'm starting to look local?

[living&learning]

Because of my spelling. Ha, damn, typing too fast and not proofing..

[Jayray]

It could be the result of a few comments from slackers which were repeated several times before it got to your boss. Then your boss may have confronted you with the hearsay

a) to save his butt

b) to get rid of you

It's probably BS.

[Laurence]

@l&l
forgive me if I come across as blunt here, or even misguided
but my reaction is this ~

Your post suggests that you already know who is complaining about you, and you know why they are doing it.

I think getting to the bottom of it is a good idea,
but can you do that without getting lost in antagonistic personal/emotional clashes?
How much of this came from you, and how much from the complainers?

[Sinobear]

Rather than saying, "Maybe this or maybe that..." put the onus on the admin. My policy with both admin and students is simple and straight-forward...I do not accept any anonymous complaints. If either side has an issue, put it on paper. If there's a minor problem that can be corrected via dialogue, start talking when the issue arises, don't snipe me with a littany of complaints months down the road. If there's a real infraction, put it on paper and I'll sign it.

I went through a rather depressing time in Beijing when a do-nothing student was actually recruited by the vice-dean to report on what I was saying and doing in my classes. Each week I was called to the office weekly to be grilled on this and that. I finally (why it took me so long to react was anybody's guess) put it to her straight up as above. That ended that.

Don't try to merely laugh it off, that makes it look like you're not taking complaints seriously (whether they are justified or not). Put the ball in their court and ask for details in writing.

Cheers!

[LoPresto]

In my opinion, the problem with most schools is that the student's evaluations are taken too seriously.

I find it interesting that students are generally asked after a month or so to evaluate the teacher. Most likely the class has only met a few times and judgement is already being made. The best is when a student says the teacher doesn't understand the subject in an Oral English class.

As for complaints, I was once told that I spoke too fast, so I slowed down, then I was told that I spoke too slow!

[Dan The Chainsawman]

[xiaolongbaolaoxi]

Unfortunately, student evals are here to stay... combination of CYA, lip service, marketing, and if needed, nefarious dirtdigging...

At one university, the department chair made a point of giving evaluations [which were online and could be traced] only to very happy students, which is nice in a way. I was told to expect criticism(s) because that is the way the game is played... the students pick something minor to put a check in the box, the administration can "address the issue," and move on. As a result, another FT [whose "respondents" were not screened] was grilled in front of her class because she did not list the possible answers to "What is your favorite color ?" on the board for students who were three months away from a uni program in Oz. [insert Monty Python reference here] Aren't little golden emperors mature in every way and more than willing to exert themselves in all communicative situations ?

However, my current employer now says that bonuses will be paid out according to student evaluations, which will be given/performed after grades are posted. Supposedly they automatically trash the results from the students they know hate the school, but,= not fun. Supposedly this has crept into US universities as well. It's a miracle I survived my education...

[dialogger]

The recent student evaluations at my college included the suggestion that the 'foreign teachers learn Chinese to better communicate with us (students)'.
And this in classes described as 'Oral English'.

[sharpe88]

What ? Never has a school, college, university or training program asked me to put my name on an instructor's evaluation. If you can't see the problems with this, I don't know what to say...

Every school, Chinese or foreign is going to have some silly comments on those evals, but anonymous feedback from students are an important part of the process.

[quote="Dan The Chainsawman"]

[Sinobear]

There's a difference between teacher evaluations and anonymous complaints. Teacher evaluations can allow a teacher to correct obvious problems if said teacher receives timely and constructive feedback. Anonymous complaints, like Internet forums, allows one or two students to be petty, vindictive and/or unreasonable whilst appearing (at least to the admin) representative of the whole.

Cheers!

[Steinmann]

[sharpe88]

I don't know of any academic institutions anywhere that don't allow anonymous complaints (anonymous to the instructor). Ditto with professional and government settings. Obviously, this can be abused but how would you like it if your instructor was shitty and you said something.. then he comes in the next day giving you the evil eye and fails you.. lol

[Renegade_o_Funk]

...

[mat chen]

My complaints are for being fat and ugly.