The validity of Student Course Evaluations

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Student Course Evaluations Get An 'F'.
Student evaluations of teaching are not only unreliable, they are significantly biased against female instructors.

CST8207 Winter 2014 Course Evaluation

 2014 Winter Survey
 2014 Winter 2014
Algonquin College  
AC  
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  Responsible Faculty:  IAN D ALLEN   Responses / Expected:   40 / 83 
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The Course

CST8207 - 400 --- Comparisons ---
Responses (%) Course All
[SA] [A] [U] [D] [SD] N Mean Mean Pct
Q1 Course learning activities (e.g lectures, discussions, practical work, group work, etc) are varied. 35%55%10%00 40 4.3 4 56
Q2 Course learning activites are linked to the course learning requirements. 58%38%5%00 40 4.5 4.2 69
Q3 All of the course learning requirements are covered in the course. 55%43%3%00 40 4.5 4.1 72
Number of Courses / Survey Responses used for Comparisons:3,127 / 19,083
Responses: [SA] Strongly Agree=5 [A] Agree=4 [U] Undecided=3 [D] Disagree=2 [SD] Strongly Disagree=1 
Pct = Percentile Rank (Higher is better)
The Course

CST8207 - 400 --- Comparisons ---
Responses (%) Course All
[E] [VG] [G] [S] [NS] N Mean Mean Pct
Q4 Overall, please rate the quality of this course 40%38%15%5%3% 40 4.1 3.7 63
Number of Courses / Survey Responses used for Comparisons:3,134 / 19,283
Responses: [E] Excellent=5 [VG] Very Good=4 [G] Good=3 [S] Satisfactory=2 [NS] Not Satisfactory=1 
Pct = Percentile Rank (Higher is better)
The Professor

IAN D ALLEN
Responses (%) Individual
[E] [VG] [G] [S] [NS] N Mean
Q5 Overall, please rate the effectiveness of your course professor 50%30%18%3%0 40 4.3
Responses: [E] Excellent=5 [VG] Very Good=4 [G] Good=3 [S] Satisfactory=2 [NS] Not Satisfactory=1 
 
Question: What did you like most about this course?
Response Rate: 100.00%   (40 of 40)
1 Linux is AWESOME!
2 Professor Allen's exuberance towards the subject of Linux, and his willingness to act in a rather entertaining manner in order to convey the points of the lessons
3 Ian repeated important things loudly many times, so it's hard to miss the important parts ,and he made us laugh all the time, which kept people being more sober on the tough Monday mornings,

and he provided his own websites for us to read and learn so it's really easy for us to review or preview the contents anytime we want, and he is right, after reading all the words on his websites, I can understand almost everything in his lecture, and he cares more about whether we learned something than other teachers cos he gave us marks for understanding why we made those previous mistakes during tests, the best thing is he has real passion for his field, and linux was supposed to be hard and boring but thanks to him, it's somehow interest and attractive. And I like the assignments with maze to solve, it made us think.

4 NOTHING! Literally.
5 It's challenging.
6 Learning something new
7 Personally I think Linux course in Algonquin is even better than the same course in some universities. I think the professor made great efforts and did fantastic job
8 Something new to learn. Linux, as major of an OS as it is, does not seem to be commonplace in everyday life, that we see it anyway. This was a great way to start learning the new OS and sparked my interest very much.
9 Fantastic teaching method. I learnt so much in linux and somehow it stuck.
10 i liked everything about this course
11 this was something newer for me.
12 Assignments are fun and original, as well as the exams.
13 The lab
14 Learning this new interesting operating system
15 Ian is tuned in to the world of Linux in a way that few in the college could claim. His sense of humor turned a routinely dry and boring class into something that I enjoyed going to and enjoyed learning in.
16 Class leactures
17 interesting
18 It was great to see the things we learned applied to real-world tasks. It really helped visualize the importance of why we need to learn this stuff and know it well. It was always interesting when he brought up certain topics like recent Linux-related news (like systemd!), ISP speeds, etc. One particular thing I found really fascinating was when Ian took the auth.log and filtered it to display a easy to read top 10 users who failed their passwords.
19 nothing its boring and really hard
20 .
21 The job prospects.
22 It was interesting. The teacher made it more engaging then it might have been with someone more boring.
23 I really loved the professor. I also found the practice material for the midterms to be extremely helpful.
24 Creating your own Linux based operating system
25 I enjoyed learning a new operating system.
26 Teacher's personality and learning linux.
27 Ian's inthusiansm and love for Linux was what I liked the most he inspired me to actually try in Linux"
28 This is course is really easy going and interesting.
29 lecture inside the class
30 ian
31 I loved the knowledge within the course and course layout.
32 I liked the assignments, I feel that they improved my understanding of the OS greatly.
33 Learning how to use a command line operating system, learning a new operating systems and commands. Assignments were detailed and hints provided were very helpful.
34 The teaching
35 Playing with the CLI configuring linux distros and learning bash.

36 everything
37 Everything.
38 The content of the course
39 nothing in particular
40 The method the course was prepared. The martial covered and Ians teaching style.
 
Question: How could the course be improved to be of benefit to future students?
Response Rate: 100.00%   (40 of 40)
1 Don't really have any idea.
2 Clone Ian Allen and replace most of the professors with him.
3 It's already good enough thanks to Ian, only one thing that the way of arranging his websites, it's a little confusing sometimes it's easy to miss one or two pages, sometimes there are a few similar page links which actually not the same thing.
4 Change all the content and teaching materials and most importantly teaching method.
5 N/a
6 more examples of commands
7 Good enough
8 No need.
9 One submission site for assignments, but no big deal.
10 it is perfect.
11 professor could have had more examples and taught some more
12 It could be improved with practical labs with real networked computers running Linux, so we can practice "networking and stuff" on Linux instead of doing it on Micro$oft Windoze.
13 more lab hours
14 more hands on practical labs with tutorial sessions with visual presentations or sessions
15 Break up some of the longer assignments into shorter ones.
16 Lab sessions make interesting in please of just giving the assignments.
17 nothing
18 It would be useful (at least for me), that at the beginning of the lecture Ian would write down the new commands we will deal with today. That way I can write them in my notes and expand on it as the lecture continues. Granted I could always use the master list and scan for the correct week, but I thought I should at least put something here.
19 nothing it is pretty good
20 .
21 The questions that are given for exam practice, if they are given earlier to practice, then this will help. I found that once I am given the practice questions, I understand what to do. There should be less assignments and more time in lab to do the practice questions earlier rather then a week or two before the mid-terms.
22 I honestly can't think of any way to improve it.
23 We had an interactive tutorial for one of the assignments that I found beneficial. If that could be included in a few other assignments, it could greatly help some students.
24 Less unforgiving exams :(
25 .
26 nothing really.
27 Don't change a thing"
28 I think course is perfect in every way.
29 provide more lecture in a week
30 its pretty good so far, if you put the time into it.
31 pay attention to workload and pace accordingly.
32 Some times I feel like the professor could of talked a wee bit slower.
33 Have more time for midterms and exams. Midterms consisted of 45 multiple choice questions with only 45 minutes to complete. Also, student completion of scantron sheets improperly should not be penalized.
34 In session theory classes could be added more rather than than the long assignmnents
35 Html and css on ians website can be improved.
36 all the things are good
37 Nothing.
38 N/A
39 possibly some Bb content
40 I can't think of anything that needs changing.
 
Faculty: ALLEN, IAN D
Question: What did you like most about the course professor?
Response Rate: 100.00%   (40 of 40)
1 ALLEN is an great professor makes linux so much more interesting.
2 Entertaining and fun. Always knows how to wake up the class.
3 Ian repeated important things loudly many times, so it's hard to miss the important parts ,and he made us laugh all the time, which kept people being more sober on the tough Monday mornings,

and he provided his own websites for us to read and learn so it's really easy for us to review or preview the contents anytime we want, and he is right, after reading all the words on his websites, I can understand almost everything in his lecture, and he cares more about whether we learned something than other teachers cos he gave us marks for understanding why we made those previous mistakes during tests, the best thing is he has real passion for his field, and linux was supposed to be hard and boring but thanks to him, it's somehow interest and attractive. And I like the assignments with maze to solve, it made us think.

4 So controversial. He is very friendly, interactive.
5 Ian has a lot of passion for what he does, which always makes class interesting.
6 Teachers enthusiasm for the students to learn
7 He is very knowledge and smart; knows how to teach students such difficult staff. I can understand most from the class, then know better after doing the worksheets and assignments. Weekly notes are better than a textbook, and his assignments are disigned perfect.
8 Wacky. Spontaneous. Keeps the content very interesting and inspires a sense of wanting to know.
9 Great teacher. By not helping me, he taught me to figure it out myself which sticks a lot more.
10 I like his sense of humor. I like the way he teaches.
11 was a nice person
12 The teacher is organized so it is easy to find course notes, lectures and practice questions on his personal website. He is also very entertaining, making students laugh and keeping them from falling asleep. His teaching is of high quality, since every lecture I attended I felt enlightened.
13 The way he lecture in class
14 funny , friendly, makes u intrested and catches your attention with his funny actions / noises / sound effects. always jumping around forcing yourself to look at him. offers great help.
15 See number 1
16 He gives fast reply of every email with details.
17 nice and humous teacher
18 Ian's enthusiasm of Linux and teaching it really helped me feel perpetually engaged and it never felt like I had to drag myself to class. To say the least, it was never a dull moment in Linux class with Ian.
19 Hes very passionate for what he teaches
20 .
21 Very talented.
22 Energetic and engaging. Knows his stuff.
23 He was highly entertaining and knowledgeable.
24 Great professor. Very enthusiastic about teaching.
25 .
26 Passionate, eager to teach.
27 His love for Linux and of course his jokes"
28 He is so funny. he makes the course interesting.
29 provide complete information on course outline
30 his mannerisms.
31 I loved Ian's enthusiasm. It was super contagious!
32 I liked that he ground linux into our heads, until we couldn't forget it
33 Very knowledgeable about course material. Made students look for answers themselves. Email responses are very quick.
34 THe way he teaches.
35 His passion and energy. "He clearly cares and makes an effort to teach you all about linux and sysadmin.
36 nice
37 Understanding.
38 Very Active
39 full of energy
40 I liked his teaching method specially, the labs.
 
Faculty: ALLEN, IAN D
Question: What, if anything, could the professor do differently to be of benefit to future students?
Response Rate: 100.00%   (40 of 40)
1 No comment
2 Restrict access to Facebook in lectures.
3 Please don't just let Ian teach semester 1, let him teach us for all the semesters.
4 Although he is a very good guy, I didn't like his teaching methods. I strongly believe that he is not teaching us the Linux. He is teaching how to pass his Linux class. As an international student who pays a small fortune to this program, I hate to be redirected to reading all the words on a webpage where he should easily provide the answer instead of making us lose huge amount of time on search. It is frustrating for international students.
5 Maybe go just a little slower
6 show more examples of commands in the assignments
7 Good enough.
8 NA
9 No improvements needed.
10 he is perfect.
11 Teach more concepts about the operating system.
12 The teacher is very strict, making the course an hard entry-level barrier for future students. I think it would benefit the moral of the students if instead of punishing students by removing them marks on mistakes that are not related to their knowledge of the content (for instance, wrong file-name submissions, among other things...), there would be a bonus marks system reserved for that, a bonus marks system that doesn't play with the marks reserved for knowledge.

This advice doesn't only apply to this teacher, but to any teacher that does what I think is a bad practice.

13 Spend more time on chapters
14 do tutorial sessions in the lab and how-to presentations infront of the whole class
15 See number 2
16 Change lab teaching style..please..
17 nothing
18 Can't think of anything.
19 dumb it down a little for the first level
20 .
21 The web page looks too boring. I have a hard time convincing my self to visit it. Needs some nice coloring I think. Perhaps a textbook will help students understand things.
22 Nothing I can think of.
23 He's perfect just the way he is.
24 N/A
25 .
26 nothing.
27 Other that slowing down a bit not a thing
28 He is perfect in all way..
29 provide more help inside the labs to the student for assignment
30 ??
31 Keep up the enthusiasm!
32 Personally, instead of midterms I feel like we could more accurately show our skills in linux actually doing a skills based assessment of the command line. Because although we can't google things in a job interview or use the man pages, while on the job we could. Personally I don't feel tests accurately represent anything in this course.
33 Be more friendly, approachable and helpful. Often times the professor's words can come across as mean, rude, and condescending.
34 Could reduce the number of assignments and help them to do in the lab
35 Perhaps speak little slower.
36 nothing "All Is Well"
37 Nothing.
38 N/A
39 nothing
40 He should treat his student equally. The course motto should apply to every student.