User:ProfessionalismCataclysm

I'm not sure exactly what to say here.

As a matter of principle, I'm against paying students to complete their CAPE reviews. I consider the extra credit award, even so small, as such a payment. It's not earned, it's not merit, and so I'm not comfortable with the idea. I don't agree when other instructors give students grade benefits in exchange for their reviews. It took a lot of convincing from the tutoring staff for me to agree to implement such a suggestion to increase CAPE participation. I thought of the two extra credit points not as points themselves, but rather I thought they represented the same as allowing all students one extra week to complete one lab for full credit. The amount of points is insignificant, and in looking for any way possible to increase the CAPE participation, I agreed thinking it could only help.

The first thought at increasing CAPE participation was to include a CAPE link in the last lab, but that link was omitted, and its absence wasn't noted until after 2/3 of students had been checked off.

The next thought, which I thought was a really good one, was to give all students specific time in class to complete their CAPE review. This would be very much like how CAPE was administered when I was a student. Since Tuesday was a quiz day when everyone was present, that would be ideal. This is Fall quarter, and for some students new to UCSD, they don't know what CAPE is, and so I could introduce CAPE and its importance. This seemed perfect, and we'd get 100% participation, and we could move on. That's what we did. I saw everyone pull out their phone and their computer. They were silent for the 5 minutes we spent on this. When I saw that most people put their phones and computers away, I thought most were done, I thanked everyone genuinely, and administered the quiz. Later, when I checked CAPE participation, I was shocked to see that the review rate was still about 50%. My request was simple, short, important to me, important to the CSE department, important for future students, and I was disappointed and puzzled by the results. When working the class, I am 100% focused on students, their project and hopes for their futures. I expected that in return for my dedication to your futures, you'd dedicate 5 minutes to my future.

Due to the surprising result after witnessing everyone seemingly complete their reviews, I was back into the position I was earlier of looking for ways to improve CAPE participation. When the entire tutoring staff insisted that most other instructors have this practice, without other options presented, I thought, let's see if it makes a difference.

In general, I believe in free will with regard to CAPE reviews. In most past quarters, I don't even mention it. You get the emails. You should give the evaluations. I believe that some students don't know how much the faculty is evaluated based on the reviews. In my last CSE 110 class in Winter 2017, the students gave a lengthy applause at the end of the course which I appreciated. However, the CAPE reviews were the lowest I've had in any CSE 110 class. When I asked a few students about it, they said, "oh, you always get good reviews, and so I didn't bother submitting one." The CAPE review participation rate became newly important to me due to being formally evaluated by students who only have strong views rather than from the class as a whole.

Now you know a little bit more about the motivations behind my surprising actions of trying any way I could or any way the tutors could to increase CAPE review participation. Including the review as part of the last lab check off really seems to be the best way to raise participation. If you have a better solution, please let me know.

Thank you for your words stating your opinion. Thanks for mentioning professionalism in your response. Being professional is a real aspect of being successful as you move onward into industry, and so I am pleased that you are paying attention to an important yet easy to overlook aspect to building a positive future career.

Being professional, I shouldn't have to ask that students complete their CAPE review. Thinking about its purpose, every student should feel obligated to complete the review as a way for their voice to be heard and to improve education for those students in future courses. If that wasn't enough, then my request to complete the review should be enough because it's so easy and quick. If that wasn't enough, I made time in class for that specific task and watched all students with my own eyes performing this task. However, that wasn't enough either.

Unfortunately, it's a sad situation.