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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Put Evaluations to Use

The College's history of quality teaching has always distinguished it from larger universities which focus on research rather than on undergraduate eductions.

In order to preserve this commitment to excellence in instruction, professors must remain accountable to those who know them best -- their students.

Although the College has a system of teacher evaluations, the current procedures fail to solicit and implement student input sufficiently.

Professors should attach greater importance to evaluations by giving them out at least a week before reading period, instead of haphazardly handing them out on the chaotic final day of classes.

These evaluations should be incorporated into professors' syllabi for each class and should be utilized equally by all departments.

Since they provide a direct source of student input into the process of deciding tenure, these evaluations should receive attention proportional to their value.

No one is more familiar with professors' teaching styles, both good and bad, than their students. A group of colleagues deciding tenure has a limited understanding of a professor's strengths and weaknesses compared to what a student observes in one course.

Studying the evaluations will allow professors to respond to students' concerns by changing their methods.

In addition, if professors affirm their commitment to valuing student input, it will encourage students to take the evaluation process seriously.

Dartmouth students are mature enough not to correlate their grades with professors' teaching quality. They can separate professors' efforts in the classroom from their own.

At an expensive institution like Dartmouth, professors should realize the importance of the students who make up their classes. The College must recognize its responsibility to students -- its clients -- and listen to their voices when making tenure decisions.

The future of teaching at Dartmouth depends on it.