My Student Evaluations II

I received student evaluations from my two courses: Jurisprudence and Insurance Law. I taught each course three or four times during my WUCL years (I was actually at WUCL from Jan. 2003-Dec. 2006, which is four years). I also taught Sales Law three times and Employment Law once, but since they weren't on my plate during Fall 2006, I only have reviews from the first two. So, let's march through some of them, with due regard to what I consider the weaknesses of the evaluation form.

To the Evaluations--Jurisprudence First

All 15 of my Jurisprudence students and 9 out of my 13 Insurance students filled out forms. One thing I have realized over the years is that when one student says "Strongly Agree" (5) with something and another says "Agree" (3 or 4), the students may, indeed, feel the same level of emotion or agreement. It is just that some students have levels of reticence in expressing fullest agreement on things. In fact, we often teach students in law school to be "guarded" in their evaluation of cases, lest they overcommit themselves to a position and have to beat a hasty retreat. Well, with that caveat, lets go!

The next Jursiprudence student gave me 5's and 4's on everything (24 "5s" and 4 "4s"). I am starting to like this form. The next was more mixed. I had 5's and 4's on everything (fewer 5s), but this one gave me a "2" on "shows appropriate respect for students." I take that kind of comment seriously, because I want to be all about "respect of people." Indeed, almost all the other students gave me a "5 "on respect for students; though four gave me "4." And, in my insurance class, more than 1 of the 9 students said something like this: "Really cares about individuals and their understanding of the material." One of my Jurisprudence students said that I had especially done the following well: "Treated students with respect." So, I am always troubled when I get a "2," and obviously one student in my Jurisprudence class felt I didn't treat him/her with appropriate respect. I am sorry about that one, in fact, and I will continue to try to incorporate high respect in my teaching. One student said I had an "ideological slant" as I taught Insurance, but that student said he "agreed strongly" that I showed respect for students. Well, let's just let that "2" stand there alone, with the cheese, but not unnoticed.

Continuing on Jurisprudence: It was all "5s" on the next for 25/28 questions, with "3s" given for clearly announced course objectives and covering material in adequate depth. I have dealt with the latter previously. Most gave me 5s for objectives/expectations. One student, however, did give me a "2" for "Overall, the course is well organized." I think that student didn't like my frequent forays into the history of words (I had my students frequently look up words in the OED and talk about their history) and wanted things, therefore, to be more "on task." These essays are perfect reflections of my style. I am "on task" but I "wander." Not everyone, I know, is in love with that. The next one was 27 "5s" and one "4"--on my controlling classroom discussion. In fact, that is a good comment; I probably let the discussion be more free-flowing than most other (any other?) law course. Sometimes students would just talk for 10 minutes to each other without me saying a word. This scares some law students. The next one was 5s for all 28; one more gave me 3's in "makes efficent use of class time" (I think that refers to my 'wandering') and "personal bias," though s/he doesn't tell me what that bias is. Well, almost everything else is 5s (mostly) and 4s, with one 2--that the course wasn't well organized for one student.

As for written comments, I will just give a few: "breathed new life into a terrible curriculum"; "excellent, enjoyable class," "the class had some of the best discussioins I have been involved in law school," "It is so nice to have a class that actually teaches what is LAW...I would not wake up at 8:30 for my other class. Thank you so much for this class!" Several students said they thought my essays were helpful. The negative comments? Students thought the book wasn't so good. I agree. One student said, "Less tangents." No other bad things.

Evaluations--Insurance

Only 9/13 filled out the form. I don't know if that means anything, but you can only go with what you have. I was surprised to see that my evaluations for insurance were even higher than for Jurisprudence. I only got two "3s" out of all the questions from all students (on respect and trying new approaches if students are confused). But the comments were as follows: "Dr. Long (they insisted on calling me Dr. Long--which generally isn't done at a law school) kept the class flowing," or "responds well to students," "really cares about individuals and their understanding of the material," "keeps up with developments in the law more than any other professor I have had," and, the one that really touched me, "can't say enough about his genuineness and respect for students." One student would have preferred if I spent more time giving practical information on how businesses people purchase insurance. Good suggestion. One more will suffice: "Prof. Long creates an extremely good atmosphere for learning the subject. In my opinioin, his teaching ability is amongst the best in the school."

Conclusion

Well, that is enough to give you a flavor of things. I have learned, over the years, to listen to evaluations. They tell the person who listens some things s/he should hear. In this case, I heard a lot of things, but the chorus in my ear as I write my valedictory essay about WUCL is a nice, "Thank you, Professor Long." I feel exactly the same way towards the school and my students.

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