How do I respond to this email from a university lecturer?
- Thread starter It’s Time To Go
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Reminds me of my feedback this semester. They wanted to know what your major/minor was, what your gpa was, your level (freshman/sophomore/ect) ... Like bitch do you really think I don't know that it's not anonymous at that point?
OP
OP
So I emailed him, and my academic advisor. Then we got the feedback for that learning log back today and I got a 7 out of 100. I'm not saying it was a perfect grade piece of work, but my average grade over the past three semesters is 75%.
This sounds like a prime example of why feedback should be anonymous in a univeristy setting like this
Also wait you get graded on assignments where you can give your professor feedback?
Also wait you get graded on assignments where you can give your professor feedback?
Sounds like you need to escalate to the department chair or go to the office of student affairs or equivalent.
He graded your feedback log....?
Should go nuclear like I suggested. Lots of such self important douchebags in academia unfortunately. I would switch over to a new course for the next semester like yesterday.
OP
OP
It was a learning log on the whole module, with feedback include, graded worth 15% of the grade of the whole module.
Reply with your honest feedback describing what you wrote in this post, and the most important part:
CC the department head of his department
CC any faculty head he has
CC the dean of student relations or any other student-oriented interest group on campus
That will protect you and fuck him over if he was out of line.
CC the department head of his department
CC any faculty head he has
CC the dean of student relations or any other student-oriented interest group on campus
That will protect you and fuck him over if he was out of line.
Sounds totally out of line. Nobody is getting a 7 out of 100 on something unless shit is afoot. I'd contact the department head, dean and everybody else as appropriate. It's pretty clearly retaliation it sounds like and utterly unprofessional.
Oof. I think I would tell him that your feedback was your experience, and that you hope he finds some value in it, even if he ultimately disagrees.
Beyond unprofessional of him to reply the way he did to you. A good teacher would say nothing, or write to express their resolve to make sure you don't feel that way during the next module.
Very smart. Catching up, it sounds like you have plenty of tangible evidence to back up your feelings, and he's going to have to get his act together if he doesn't want blowback.
He sounds like a vindictive twat. I'd kick off at this point as the benefit of doubt would be gone.
I'm going to go against the grain here and say you misunderstood what the assignment was and ended up thinking it was feedback when it was actually meant to be about what you learnt and took away from the module, maybe what more you would have wanted to go into detail. Instead you critiqued him on what was actually put as a doss assignment meant to get easy marks and I really doubt the university is going to stand for you when you give lecturer feedback in a marked assignment which if marked you knew your lecturer would read. Universities don't ask for lecturer appraisals in marked assignments. You sound young so maybe a bit naive which is why you got in this situation but honestly I'd apologise because on the lecturer's side it looks like you just insulted him in a marked assignment you'd know he'd read that wasn't about lecturer feedback
Yeah, I have the feeling there was a big misunderstanding about what type of feedback the assignment should contain.
That the lecturer would grade an assignment where he receives feedback about his competency doesn't make much sense as that's so obviously morally flawed.
I'm sorry but isn't that assuming too much about the assignment? Your whole post is written from the point of saying the OP massively misunderstood what they needed to write about. Something broke down between the OP and the teacher and it sounds like a third party needs to get involved to mediate.
I'm taking it from what the OP wrote about the assignment, it was a learning log, not feedback, and the OP never actually states it said to give feedback on the lecturer but teaching methods as a small part, and that doesn't seem to be the bulk of the assignment either. I've done the feedback stuff for so many modules, they are crystal clear and tend to be questionaires so they can correalate everyones in the class, they also like ranks by numbers, i.e 1-10. Like I said, OP got confused what the assignment was, feedback is not marked, and you should always assume that if it's marked the main lecturer can see it and knows who it's by. I'm saying this because the whole thread is saying how bad the lecturer is and OP is obvioucly in the right, and I'm telling you that attitude will screw him up when he deals with the university. Again, to the lecturer it will really just look like OP took the opportunity to put a pointed and personal attack on something that he would read, and the university is not going to buy that OP didn't know the lecturer would read an assignment that's marked. I'm not saying OP's a bad person or did it on purpose but I think the advice so far is bad and is more likely thjan not to blow up in his face, and he would be better trying to be conciallatory and trying to enter mediation instead of making an official complaint that a lot have reccommended.
This. Do people really think that a review of the class was going to be worth 15 percent? Universities have standard review of classes.and surveys they use that go to all classes at the end in the same format.
It does make sense the assignment was morso for the content of the class instead of the treatment by the professor. Though the fact the professor would score them so low without consultation or any reach out, and the fact OP posts this thread not knowing what's going on doesn't look great. The professor would know they clearly did not understand the instructions given, if everything was done in good faith. If it's clear there was a big misunderstanding third party mediation is the way to go. If what your saying is true, the professor failed to communicate or the OP mis-framed this thread.
OP
OP
It seems pretty unprofessional of him to reach out to you personally, does your university not do anonymous feedback? Personally I would be uncomfortable having to maintain a teacher/student relationship with someone who feels personally aggrieved by feedback.
honestly might want to reach out to your ombuds and see if they can help you
for these assignments I always take an ethnographic approach and just state the objective reality of what I observed and let whomever has to read it interpret it how they want.
Yeah time to organize your emails and class assignments before he removes them and formulate an email to the dean.
OP
OP
This is directly from my module guidebook.
The assessment
A learning log is a reflective assessment in which you write 250 words about a week's work (including the webinar). You need to select three separate weeks on the module and write 250 words about each one. Your total word count will be 750 words.
The requirements
This assessment is intended to help you to reflect critically on the module and your understanding of its core themes. It also asks you to comment on your progress and your development of academic and disciplinary skills. Feedback on the module over the course of the semester is also welcome.
The assessment
A learning log is a reflective assessment in which you write 250 words about a week's work (including the webinar). You need to select three separate weeks on the module and write 250 words about each one. Your total word count will be 750 words.
The requirements
This assessment is intended to help you to reflect critically on the module and your understanding of its core themes. It also asks you to comment on your progress and your development of academic and disciplinary skills. Feedback on the module over the course of the semester is also welcome.
Yeah. Feels like what has happened here is that the OP has misunderstood the purpose of the assignment (reflection on work done and what was learned, as a way of generating some nice easy marks at the end of what would have been a difficult academic session) and has instead focused on giving the lecturer feedback about their performance. The OP was invited (as an aside, not as the main thrust of the assignment) to give feedback on the module, not the lecturer.
As for everyone complaining that the university haven't treated feedback anonymously - well, if you submit a piece of academic work for marking by your lecturer, and include personal feedback in that piece of work, how do you expect it to be anonymous? That's simply not the mechanism for submitting anonymous feedback.
Yeah unfortunately it sounds like you misinterpreted what the actual feedback was for, the above definitely implies you should be giving feedback on the module and what you learned from it both from what was delivered and how you handled it rather than on the lecturer.
(emphasis mine)
Yeah, looks like bawjaws is on the money here: you misunderstood the assignment. It's asking for feedback on the content of the module, not the teachers' delivery of it. This is not a catastrophe, but we'll have to pivot: this thread has been behind you, but now we need to be in damage control, since it turns out this was your mistake. But it is salvageable!
The first thing to do IMO is talk to your academic advisor or someone else you trust at your university. Maybe an upperclassman who's dealt with this professor before, or another faculty member you like. Someone who can give you advice, because someone at your institution will know better than a bunch of us randoms on the internet.
But my guess is that your best approach would be to come clean to the original professor, that you misunderstood the line about feedback, and ask to redo the assignment (since I'm guessing you used a lot of your word count on content that turned out to be not relevant to what it was actually asking, making the 7/100 a fair assessment). Hopefully you'll be able to get a better grade out of it.
And I totally get it: I'm sure the teacher's dismissiveness has been bugging you all module, and seeing that tag about "feedback is welcome!" seemed like an invitation to speak your mind. I'm sorry you got burned on it, and burned hard. I know the feels, dude.
OP
OP
I'm going to see what my academic advisor says before I respond. Since it seems im wrong, I would have been ok apologising and admitting that to him or at least saying this wasn't the correct forum in which to give him feedback, but now he's given me 7/10 on a graded assignment, of which my feedback of him was 60 words out of 788, I'm not going to apologise yet,
I don't think you misinterpreted the assignment. Feedback on the module is bound to contain some feedback on the person teaching it as well.
Also, that 7/100 is like a present from him to you against him.
Also, that 7/100 is like a present from him to you against him.
You should threadmark this or something so people don't keep saying the same thing. If 60 words out of 788 were about him and he gave you a 7 out of 100 then something is clearly wrong. Sure, it might have been a misunderstanding (and you can apologize for that) but this is obviously retaliation.
If you are gonna take your next class with him, I would scale it up the chain. Otherwise, drop the class and try to get another class through your advisor or something.
That doesn't sound like it's asking you to critique tor provide feedback about the lecturer at all? Sounds like you were supposed to critique the content of those weeks and what you took from it.
OP
OP
I mean "Feedback on the module over the course of the semester is also welcome." seems like the relevant passage? I mean "also" states it is something else you can include that wasn't previously stated. And since it just mentions "the module" it feels not that far fetched to assume it means you can critique the module itself and how it was conducted.
The assignment asked for feed back on the module, not the professor. That is not the same as a professor/class evaluation.
When we did professor evaluations, the professors handed a volunteer student the materials and left the room. Everyone fill out their forms, sealed them in envelopes. The volunteer collected them and dropped them off at the appropriate office.
You need to contact a mediator, sit down and apologies to the professor for not following directions. You made a mistake, you need to own up to it first so you can rectify it.
When we did professor evaluations, the professors handed a volunteer student the materials and left the room. Everyone fill out their forms, sealed them in envelopes. The volunteer collected them and dropped them off at the appropriate office.
You need to contact a mediator, sit down and apologies to the professor for not following directions. You made a mistake, you need to own up to it first so you can rectify it.
Well this is a bit awkward. Speak to your academic advisor by all means it's not a Dean matter right now. For the module you are taking, you will have a handbook or learning guide. In it, there should be something on how to to address concerns of an academic nature. There should also be a rubric for the summative assessment your have completed that details what should be included or expected for your assessment regarding the different grade boundaries. It should be clear when you look it over why you got a lower mark than you expected. You should also expect personalised feedback as well that all of this. It should not be a personal matter.
When you get to this end of this module or unit you are enrolled in, your University should have some policy around how to apply for you to have your grade reviewed - there is usually a small charge for something like this. Please have a look at the policies of your university around professional behaviours, how to apply for reviewing your grade and the code of conduct that academics (as well as students) will be bound by. Policy is there to protect both students and staff, it just has to be used appropriately. Hopefully, there is just some misunderstanding here that can be resolved. Don't be combative, just be polite, professional and informed. There's not really any better advice you can get on an online forum and it is your responsibility.
When you get to this end of this module or unit you are enrolled in, your University should have some policy around how to apply for you to have your grade reviewed - there is usually a small charge for something like this. Please have a look at the policies of your university around professional behaviours, how to apply for reviewing your grade and the code of conduct that academics (as well as students) will be bound by. Policy is there to protect both students and staff, it just has to be used appropriately. Hopefully, there is just some misunderstanding here that can be resolved. Don't be combative, just be polite, professional and informed. There's not really any better advice you can get on an online forum and it is your responsibility.
Yeah there's no way you should've taken shots at the professor based on this description. Even if it was only a small part of it, it comes off as wildly petty and inappropriate. Save that for the post class anonymous feedback.
just know an apology won't change your grade now.
consider feedback to the professor a no-fly zone at this point.
consider feedback to the professor a no-fly zone at this point.
Keep everything as proof and own up to your review (don't budge and stay truthful).
If you feel in any sense that you are being attacked for said review, go see whoever's in charge of something like that at your university.
You don't have to feel bad for your truthful criticism and he can't take revenge against you.
If he does, he's going to have a bad time.
If you feel in any sense that you are being attacked for said review, go see whoever's in charge of something like that at your university.
You don't have to feel bad for your truthful criticism and he can't take revenge against you.
If he does, he's going to have a bad time.
If you'd reflected on the academic's pedagogy and how it affected your learning in a negative way, that would be a valid use of that part of the assessment. E.g if they'd approached lectures as purely didactic, whereas a flipped approach is more suitable to your learning style. Or discussing negatively the curriculum content and where you feel it is lacking - eg. there might have been a focus on a particular class/race/etc. when you feel a broader examination would be more beneficial. But giving feedback like a customer is not what they are asking for here.
There is no way feedback mechanisms (eg. SET/SEM) would ever be tied to assessment. Any serious institution would have them anonymised and usually at the end of the module.
That said, 7 out of a 100 is a shockingly low score...
There is no way feedback mechanisms (eg. SET/SEM) would ever be tied to assessment. Any serious institution would have them anonymised and usually at the end of the module.
That said, 7 out of a 100 is a shockingly low score...