Students 'rate' their lecturers.

AVOID SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION CRITERIA

On online forums, many students write posts expressing their feelings about their lecturers. Some students complain that certain lecturers are strict, give harsh grades, or take attendance frequently, while others lecture less and focus more on student discussions. However, these same lecturers are often praised by other students for being serious, helping students develop discipline, increasing interaction, and encouraging proactiveness.

Every semester, students at universities are surveyed to provide feedback on the teaching activities of their lecturers.

According to Master Vo Van Viet, Head of the Quality Management Department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, that was a somewhat subjective personal opinion of some students. Therefore, according to Master Viet, establishing criteria that ensure objectivity and avoid subjective evaluations to obtain accurate results is extremely important in surveys evaluating the teaching activities of lecturers.

"At the end of each semester, Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry conducts a survey. The survey form includes 37 criteria covering topics such as course information and teaching materials, teaching methods and content, assessment, pedagogical conduct, and an overall evaluation. Each criterion has a scoring scale from 1 to 5, corresponding to different levels," Master Viet informed. In addition to scoring using the 5-point scale, students can also provide feedback to lecturers and the university to improve the quality of teaching and training.

At the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, surveys are conducted once every semester using a questionnaire that is developed and updated, including 20 evaluation criteria regarding course content and teaching methods of lecturers, including discipline, fairness and objectivity, engaging and creating an interesting learning environment, and respect for students. In addition, there are open-ended questions for students to express their opinions and suggestions.

However, in the survey, students also have to provide information such as the percentage of time spent attending class and the average number of hours of self-study per week. This information will reflect the reliability of the scores or opinions students have for their instructors. For example, a student who attends less than 50% of classes and studies less than 1 hour per week will be rated very differently from a student who attends 100% of classes and studies for more than 10 hours per week.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Tat Thanh University and Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages ​​- Information Technology focus on the following elements: seriousness, objectivity, accuracy, and fairness in teacher evaluation, responsibility, enthusiastic support for students, practical knowledge, active teaching methods, and pedagogical conduct.

10 YEARS, ONLY 1 TEACHER ADJUSTED CLASS SCHEDULES BASED ON SURVEY RESULTS

According to Master Vu Duy Cuong, Director of the Center for Quality Assurance and Educational Methods at Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, "Through surveys, we have found that students often highly appreciate the content and teaching materials, and also make high demands for improvements in teaching methods."

It is understood that after processing the student questionnaires, the overall survey results and those of each lecturer will be sent by the Quality Assurance Center of Ho Chi Minh City University of Law to the board of directors and specialized faculties. This data will then be used by the faculties to discuss and recommend improvements for lecturers (if necessary), or to compile information for awarding commendations or considering emulation titles.

However, according to Master Duy Cuong, in reality, based on survey results, over the past 10 years, only one lecturer at the school had to adjust their teaching hours due to low survey results and student feedback.

Master's degree holder Dam Duc Tuyen, Head of the Examination and Quality Management Department at the University of Finance - Marketing, also noted that even with the same lecturer, some students may like and find the teaching suitable, while others may not. "Therefore, any form that doesn't meet reliability standards will be rejected. For example, giving the same score across all criteria, from top to bottom, or vice versa," Mr. Tuyen explained.

Ms. Tuyen informed that so far, no lecturers at the school have received a "poor" grade; only average and above-average grades have been achieved. "The school will work with the faculty to exchange and provide professional development and teaching methods for lecturers who have not received positive feedback on teaching criteria, or to make adjustments to their demeanor and behavior towards students if they receive feedback," Ms. Tuyen said.

Student feedback on faculty members is an important channel for implementing democratic principles in schools, contributing to enhancing faculty accountability.

A CRITICAL INFORMATION CHANNEL FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

According to Master Vo Van Viet, universities do not use survey results to dismiss or reduce teaching hours for teachers who do not receive high evaluation scores. Instead, these results will serve as a basis for teachers to develop their strengths and overcome weaknesses in order to improve their teaching.

"The quality of education is currently a vital issue for universities, and improving the quality of education is a top priority. Therefore, conducting effective surveys of students regarding the teaching activities of lecturers will be of great significance in providing universities with reliable results through data, thereby enabling them to implement measures to improve the quality of education and scientific research," Master Vu Duy Cuong observed.

Mr. Bui Quang Trung, Head of Communications at Nguyen Tat Thanh University, also believes that over the years, student evaluation of lecturers has created an additional information channel to help lecturers adjust their teaching activities and enhance their sense of responsibility in achieving the training goals of higher education institutions. In addition, students can express their thoughts, aspirations, and opinions on the teaching activities of their lecturers.

"This is an activity that needs to be maintained to implement democratic regulations in schools, contributing to raising the sense of responsibility of teachers; at the same time, strengthening the sense of responsibility of students regarding their rights and obligations in learning and training, thereby contributing to improving the quality of training at higher education institutions," said Ms. Le Thi Tuyet Anh, Head of the Examination and Quality Assurance Department of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages ​​and Information Technology.

The students' assessment was quite accurate.

In recent times, gathering student feedback on faculty teaching has contributed significantly to improving teaching quality. After each survey, the results are displayed on the faculty's account, and departments receive reports. This allows faculty members to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and to make necessary adjustments to their teaching methods. Furthermore, the departments can monitor this process.

In my opinion, the students' assessment is quite accurate, because all of them have to complete the survey, so the majority opinion will reflect the reality of teaching quality. This is especially true considering that teachers teach many classes, and each class has to complete the survey.

Master Chau The Huu

(Lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages ​​and Information Technology)

I hope the teachers will listen.

Whenever the school conducts a survey, I carefully study the questionnaire and complete it diligently because I know it greatly impacts the teachers and the school. Personally, I appreciate teachers who are enthusiastic, possess extensive practical knowledge, and create many topics for student discussion to enhance their initiative and analytical, evaluative, and problem-solving skills. Therefore, in the general evaluation section, I usually express my opinion in this way and hope the teachers will listen.

Nguyen Thu Huong

(Final-year student majoring in Business Administration at the University of Finance and Marketing)

What's important is that the teachers are always dedicated.

The evaluation process will inevitably involve differing opinions among students regarding the same professor. However, I find the questionnaire quite comprehensive, and if the survey were conducted on a university-wide scale, the results would still accurately reflect the professors' perspectives. For me, the most important thing is that when they are in the classroom, the professors are always dedicated, possess high professional knowledge, and respect their students.

Vu Duy Tien

(Student majoring in Management and Law at Ho Chi Minh City University of Law)

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