Questions are answered on a scale of 1(strongly disagree) to 4(strongly agree)
Results
I ran the surveys in class, so almost 100% responses (a few kids absent). I spent some time making bar charts that all showed nice long bars for most questions, but I wasn't satisfied with the differentiation they produced, so I tried some other options. I messed about with bubbles, stacks, filled areas, etc. until finally hitting on nets, which instantly revealed themselves to be a great way of presenting these results. By now this was some kind of abstract data set and not the original self-improvement exercise, and I sat smugly looking at something that looked like the chart you see on a pack of Japanese supermarket coffee, in this case one that scored highly across the board.
So I decided to change the scale of the radial axis to start at 2, rather than the automatic 0, or even the minimum score of 1, and I think it gives a much better feeling of what's going well and what needs to be improved. We can clearly see strengths that approach the edge of the net, and weaknesses that dip in below 3 for some classes. 3, after all, is the minimum acceptable score, since 2 represents "disagree". So here it is. Click to view.
Analysis
So what are some of the revelations of this?Strengths are obviously subject knowledge, which is good to see, since I feel perpetually on tip-toes in the deep-end of IT. Of course the accumulated experience of decades of messing with computers gives the air of expertise, but most of it is seat-of-the-pants type intuition. I constantly feel that just when I begin to master something is when it changes. However, the kids obviously think I know what I'm talking about!
Its nice to see the "respect" scores up near 4 also, but something would be seriously wrong if they weren't.
So time to turn a critical eye on those troughs!
First of all, the feedback isn't detailed or timely. The Grade 9 & 10 class have dragged this one down. This is one of my worst areas, since I generally find marking to be a depressing experience, as it reveals how little some kids understood of the great things I thought I was teaching, and how few of them actually "get it" completely. Most are in the grey middle of the right idea, but not really what I was hoping for in terms of quality, and I often feel discouraged. However, getting stuff on the computer and submitted through Moodle or Google Docs has improved my marking no end. They should have seen what I was like before! Part of the problem is my willingness to accept late work, which ends up with it accumulating and me being suddenly inundated, with semester reports to write, and no time to give nice feedback comments. Still, I have to take this as a "must try harder" with the older students.
Next up is not helping outside the lesson. What? I thought I was good at that! I can't help if they don't come. Do they want me to say they have to come? Something to bring up in class.
A slight dip below 3 for communication in the high school class turns out to be caused by someone giving it a 1.
Finally, the grade 6 class pulls up the average for feeling comfortable about sharing ideas. The average for the older classes is below 3. Maybe I don't ask for sharing so much. I mostly follow the routine of show stuff on the projector, and then kids try it for themselves. After a few lessons, they get to show what they know by doing their own project. Perhaps there are not enough opportunities for class discussion in this, but I always feel time is so short, with only 45 minutes twice a week. Something for me to think about and see what I can do. I hope no-one feels that they can't speak up if they want to.
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