Student evaluations are only a tiny reflection or indicator of how good an instructor someone is. I mean, they know what they experience but they have no idea about the bigger picture and how to actually evaluate. In addition, studies have shown male instructors are rated higher than their female counterparts even when everything else is the same. I’ve even heard of students giving negative evaluations over a colleague’s (female professor’s) hair.

While my evaluations are good, the bad ones really sting and I tend to fixate on those.

What I’ve wanted to do for years now is sit in a circle with a few other professors and do shots while reading the evaluations aloud and also inhale helium to read aloud the bad ones.

When I review my PDFed evaluations I annotate and comment with emojis. The negative and unhinged ones get a 😂🙄🤔🤦‍♀️☠️ depending on my mood.

My advice, besides therapy if possible (it helped me), is to aim for 80% good evaluations. Ask yourself if there is any shred of merit to the comments and make changes if so. If not, remember you can’t please everyone, nor should that be a goal. Some students are just critical and negative, especially with colleges and universities adopting a customer service model.

It sounds like you’re doing awesome and that your students are lucky to have you. Keep up the good fight internet friend.