Dawson File mysteries …
Victoria Dawson, the FAMU legal writing director whose error-ridden working paper has caused a stir (see St. Petersburg Times story here), was evidently much appreciated by one of her classes and not appreciated by another. And the rest of her classes? What did they think? ... Who knows? Interim FAMU Law Dean Ruth Witherspoon told the Times late Friday night that the evaluations for Dawson's other classes were not administered - and she doesn't know why.
In Dawson's fall 2006 class, 17 of 20 students enrolled bubbled in the "assessment of instruction" forms, and 12 of them rated Dawson excellent or very good. Dawson got high marks in all 7 categories, ranging from "communication of ideas and information" to "respect and concern for students" to "facilitation of learning."
In Dawson's spring class, though, 14 of 20 students responded, and while none rated her excellent or good, 11 rated her poor, with correspondingly low marks in every category. Mystery question No. 1: Why would Dawson's fall class have such a peachy view of her, while her spring class thought she was the pits?
Mystery question No. 2: What did students in Dawson's other classes
think? The Times requested the forms June 13, and within a day FAMU
emailed the two cited in this blog post. But the forms for Dawson's
other classes - including the classes she taught in 2005-2006 - are
apparently either missing or non-existent or not being turned over.
After The Times sent a series of emails to FAMU officials seeking
either the records or an explanation, Dean Witherspoon emailed a
two-sentence response at nearly 8 o'clock Friday, saying the
evaluations for Dawson's elder law class - and a few other courses last
year - were not administered.
Witherspoon doesn't say why. She also doesn't say what happened to the
forms for Dawson's 2005-06 classes. (The Times' records request was
not limited to one year.)
Theories, anyone?
- Ron Matus, state education reporter
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As I wrote in my post, I don't think there's anything sinister here - this is garden-variety negligence and oversight.
FAMU needs to take a hard look at its course evaluation system. It would be an excellent opportunity for FAMU to re-establish credibility with its current students.
I am more than willing to help - my contact information is on my site.
Posted by: Matthew K. Tabor | July 02, 2007 at 06:29 PM