University of Alberta General Chemistry Laboratories

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Do you have problems understanding your Lab Instructor?

Does this mean that you will necessarily find your Instructor to be ineffective?

The following results obtained by polling students at near the end of the Chem 10X labs might surprise you.

This page presents results from the Ocober 1995 and October 1997 Chem 10X TA Surveys.

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On the October 1995 evaluation of Teaching Assistants by their students, the following questions were used:

#2. My TA speaks clearly and understandably.

#4. Overall, my TA was effective.

The University of Alberta uses a 5 point scale:

1=strongly disagree
2=disagree
3=neutral
4=agree
5=strongly agree

There were 1810 responses (of the 1962 students still registered in the course after 1 week). Of these, 416 respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with "My TA speaks clearly and understandably".

However to "Overall, my TA was effective", these same 416 students picked:

1=Strongly Disagree	2=Disagree	3=Neutral	4=Agree	5=Strongly Agree
19	56	192	150	26

that is:

• (150+26)=33% of the 416 students agreed or strongly agreed that their TA was effective in spite of the fact that they felt their TA did not speak clearly and understandably.
  
• 192=46.2% were neutral.
• (19+56)=14.1% felt the TA was ineffective.

Side note: The (19+56)=75 students who felt that their TA did not speak clearly and understandably and was not effective, might be compared to 19 students who agreed (or strongly agreed) that their TA spoke clearly and understandably, but was not effective. More interestingly, see this comparison for the Oct 97 survey below.

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Results for 1996 were saved in summary form only so are not available for analysis. In 1996, questions to be used on evaluations were standardized by our General Faculties Council, so the October 1997 evaluation used:

#2. My TA speaks audibly and clearly.

#4. Overall, my TA was effective.

The October 1997 evaluation was conducted during the 6th lab period (out of eight for the term) for Chem 101/102 and during the 4th lab period (out of five) for Chem 103. There were 1830 responses out of the 2109 students still registered in the course after 1 week. Of these, 372 respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with "My TA speaks audibly and clearly".

However to "Overall, my TA was effective", these same 372 students picked:

1=Strongly Disagree	2=Disagree	3=Neutral	4=Agree	5=Strongly Agree
24	45	158	136	9

that is

• (136+9)=39% of the 372 students agreed or strongly agreed that their instructor was effective in spite of the fact that the TA did not speak clearly and understandably.
• 158=42.5% were neutral.
• (24+45)=18.5% felt the TA was ineffective.

Side note: The (24+45)=69 students who felt that their TA did not speak audibly and clearly and was not effective, might be compared to the 66 students who agreed (or strongly agreed) that their TA spoke audibly and clearly, but was not effective.

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Back to Chem 101/102/103 October 97 Survey.

Back to Lab Home Page.

Comments and questions concerning this page may be directed to Norman Gee .
Last revised November 6, 1997.

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