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STUDENTS > Courses > Evaluation Procedures >
How do I read my evaluations online?
Both teachers and students have access to the course evaluation data online via a login password.
Course evaluation information is posted online, but comments posted by students are not viable to students. Only the teacher and authorized persons can see the comments, which are stored anonymously in a secure database. Authorized persons include Leonor Clelo, the Dean, the Associate Dean, and anyone approved by one of the deans.
Why do I have to turn in my grades before I get my evaluations?
There are two concerns. Some might think them strained, but they certainly seem sufficient to justify a bright-line rule.
First, although Boalt has a grading curve, there remain areas of discretion within the overall grade distribution limits. In particular, faculty members can choose in large courses to give slightly more or fewer Honors grades, given the alternative calculation rules, and they can choose to give as many or as few PC or NC grades as they like. In seminars, they have even more discretion in determining how many Honors grades to award. The concern is that faculty members who get strongly negative teaching evaluations from a class might consciously or unconsciously respond by awarding lower aggregate grades to the class than they otherwise would. The reverse might be true for those who get highly flattering class evaluations. The way to guard against this possible influence on grading is to distribute the teaching evaluations after grades have been submitted.
Second, Boalt faculty members assign grades to individual students and could conceivably be influenced by a particular student's evaluation in determining that student's grade. How can this be, if exam scoring is blind? In non-seminar classes, professors assign grades after submitting raw scores. They might use what discretion they have to move a particular student's grade up or down, based on that student's evaluation. How can professors determine which student wrote which evaluation? Often they can't. But it's possible that they will know the author in some cases. A student might have made a complaint during the course and then have reiterated that same complaint (one echoed by other students) on an evaluation form. A faculty member might react vindictively or with unwonted leniency, depending on what the student wrote on the evaluation. In seminars, the danger is greater, because papers typically are not read blind and classes tend to be small. Professors might more easily associate a student with an evaluation form, which, again, consciously or unconsciously might skew grading.
So the simple solution is to wait until grades are submitted before distributing student teaching evaluations.
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