::A Geek in Korea::

Today was my first day of official testing. I have to admit, other than test generation, grading, and all the paper copying involved in having an exam, testing days are awesome. I handed out tests, sat in the front of class, and just read a book. Anyone that was in class had one of several versions of a test to deter cheating, and they had to return the test to me after the class along with their answer sheet. Everything was accounted for, and all they had to do was mark down the proper version of the test so that I could check it afterwards.

I learned a lot from previous testing, so I was able to finish grading, scoring, and recording in around an hour’s worth of time. This is a minor miracle, as I have tons of classwork to still calculate and tabulate for final grades. I’ll be at work for hours every day this week far beyond my normal hours trying to get everything done. I have three more classes to grade later this week, and that’s the easy part. I should be able to get most of their grade calculated by the deadline if I am tenacious about it. Some classes I could theoretically do before the grading period was even opened next week, but I need to run through the tutorial for grading and wait for the university to open up the website.

Students also get evaluations to grade me this week. I’m a little worried, because it will be brought up again in a year’s time when I go in for review to be rehired. From what I hear about contract renegotiations, you go in without a job when your contract goes up for renewal and you have to fight for your place to be reinstated with you remaining in the position. They go looking to cut anyone they can, or at least that’s how everyone that’s gone through the processes this year described it. The student reviews are something they factor into when considering your reemployment as part of your ability to keep people happy. Happy paying customers? You get to keep your job. Poor ratings leads to a poor chance of renewal. In this way it is no different than my last job. Or, it might have been I was the only person with a contact that was willing to tolerate the environment at that school for multiple years …hmmmm.

I’ve heard that most students are pretty generous with their scores and you tend to average out to be mid-range most of the time unless you get a particular class that is bitter or just falls apart for some reason. I hope this generosity is true, as my attendance has dropped off considerably this week. It might be finals and graduate school thesis defenses for some, but others might be no-shows for other reasons. I can’t believe I have to wait an entire year for that sort of feedback!

Some teachers stay in the room during the feedback survey, which seems like it would influence the results a little too much. Others take the survey afterwards to review it for tips before handing it over to the office. The official idea is that the students fill it out at home and then put it in the office so we never see their answers. It is then taken by our managers and filed away. The students do have to return the forms for someone to see.

I’d like to know what was written, but I’d also be honest and turn in all the reviews. If a student really did have something bad to say to me, I think discussing it in the office after class is always better than a passive-aggressive review at the end of a session. The simple fact that a feedback program exists, even in a detached manner such as this one is better than all other previous schools I’ve taught at in Korea. The best I could hope for in the past was a lie or a misdirected bit of criticism from a mother for their child’s poor performance usually coming from a director that has a financial gain from manipulating their words. At least here I can hear from paying customers what they thought about my performance, even if it takes a while to get back to me.