Assume all teaching to be ineffective till there is evidence to contrary.
This statement by Mager may sound too harsh to many of us but it is a stark reality ! Gone are the days when one could give a scholarly lecture and feel satisfied. It won't be wrong to say that the age old dictum of 'consumer is always right' applies to a great extent to teaching also. This view point is going to have its own share of supporters as well as critics. However, there is no disagreement over the point that obtaining feedback about your own teaching is an inexpensive and invaluable way of improving the quality of your teaching. Recall for a minute the discussion we had in the chapter on Evaluation -- the whole concept of evaluation is based on feedback to improve the quality of final product. There is no reason, why we teachers should keep ourselves out of bounds from feedback about our teaching.

Teacher evaluation has come to be known all over the world as a useful input to improve the quality of teaching. This belief stems from the fact that learning is largely dependent on the attitude of the learners. If they are not favourably predisposed towards the teacher, they are not likely to learn. By obtaining feedback, you can identify areas to improve your acceptability as a teacher.

Who should give this feedback ? This is a difficult question to answer since our ego prevents us from accepting critical feedback from just anyone. Tape and video recordings viewed by self could be a possible answer. In many developed countries, teachers use these electronic devices to monitor their own teaching. Since they are not viewed by anybody else, they can be quite non - threatening. In addition, they have the advantage of providing good review. Teacher's contribution, quality of student comments and questions, student enthusiasm or hostility (tone of voice, shuffling of feet etc.) can all be evaluated by these means. Though useful, these technological aids are unlikely to be freely available to most of us for many years to come.

Another helpful means of obtaining feedback could be peer evaluation. You could request a senior colleague to sit in your class, observe your teaching and later provide you feedback. You are thinking right - this is somewhat similar to what we discussed under microteaching. The only difference is that in this case, you are being observed during an actual class rather than during a mock session. Sound in theory, this method may pose certain practical difficulties. Finding a colleague willing to spare one full hour may be difficult. Further, sitting at the back, he may be unable to observe the reaction of the students. Presence of an observer may make you also conscious and induce artificiality in your teaching behaviour.

You can also to self evaluation. This introspection has its own value and supplements other forms of teacher evaluation. At times, there may be a conflict between what you feel and what students think - however, by adopting a balanced path, you can get useful feedback for self improvement. A number of self - check scales have been published and we don't intend to go into all of them. However, by selecting important points from many of them. It is possible to draw a scale which is brief yet fairly wide in its coverage. Look at the following points :

• I know the underlying educational philosophy of the institution where I teach.

• I select objectives for my teaching based on this philosophy.

• I use principles of learning to plan my classroom and clinical teaching.

• I providing opportunities for student to select their own learning experiences.

• I provide opportunities for student opinions on content and teaching method to improve my teaching.

• I provide learning experiences which offer challenges to students and stimulate them for further study.

• I use audio - visual media to make instructions more meaningful.

• I recognise the principle of individual differences and therefore realise that some of my students will need more inputs than others.

• I provide learning experiences to develop practical and affective skills in addition to imparting knowledge.

• I encourage students to practice self activity in learning.

• I encourage students to draw on supplemental materiel from various sources.

• I select learning experiences which enable students to integrate theory into practice.

• I have a good rapport with my students.

• I have an objective attitude towards teaching and hence a willingness to change.

• I participate in educational research.

How many points are applicable in your case ? We are sure many - but there is still a possibility of improvement. This kind of self evaluation is non - threatening but at the same time can be deceptive, if we have few peculiar personality traits. Even though you may be rating yourself poorly on some of these points, by may be rating yourself, you are likely to induce a positive change in yourself (this is what psychologists call Hawthorne effect).

and so on, it has been seen that it is not so, After all, who can tell the taste of the pudding better than the dinner guests ? increasingly greater attention is now being given to student feedback. Research has shown that student are consistent with those given by more experienced colleagues. In many institutions abroad, promotions and career advancements have student ratings as one of the criteria.

The student ratings are directed towards course objectives, organisation of the course, teaching techniques and procedures, assignments and examinations. Various types of questionnaires have been reported in literature but the one that we are telling you here is the one that we have extensively used for our own evaluation and found it satisfactory.

While the current opinion is in favour of using student feedback, you should exercise caution in its use. Students should be asked to support their opinion with reasons. This is more so if you are new to the profession of teaching and lack self confidence.

TEACHER EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE

During all teaching sessions for the course the teacher was able to :