Lecturer tells students: You can’t hide behind nameless feedback
A UNIVERSITY lecturer has warned his students that he knows who they are after receiving their “anonymous” end-of-term feedback.
Darren Reid, a senior lecturer in history at Coventry University, told undergraduates that far from their comments being unidentifiable, he was able to tell who had written them.
He explained that it was fairly straightforward to work out who had made certain remarks if they were “highly consistent” with a student’s speaking pattern or opinions they have expressed in seminars.
In an email, obtained by Times Higher Education magazine (THE), Dr Reid urged students “not to assume that a nameless form grants you complete anonymity”. He added that “some of you think you are better at hiding your identity than you are in reality”.
Dr Reid, who specialises in Native American history, told how “patterns of identity” such as non-attendance and a “few other tells” mean that students often “effectively de-anonymise” themselves.
He said that his “last lesson” to his final-year students is meant “in the spirit of support” to help them “after graduation [and] in the job market”.
‘Some of you think that you are better at hiding your identity than you are in reality’
Dr Reid went on to analyse all the positive and negative comments he received, and said that overall he was “extremely flattered and gratified”.
Student feedback on their lecturers, as well as satisfaction surveys, is increasingly used as ways to measure teaching quality at universities. However, some lecturers have complained that they tend to generate unfair, unconstructive and sometimes abusive comments that unduly affect careers.
Dr Reid defended his message to students, saying that he “was simply offering constructive advice pertinent in the age of internet ‘privacy’”.
He told THE that he sent the email because he believes it is “very important” to discuss “how the nature of anonymity continues to change in the digital landscape that we live in and which appears (but often fails) to protect one’s privacy”.
He went on: “We have a responsibility to make sure our students understand that perceived anonymity is not the same as actual anonymity – at university, the workplace and online.”
A Coventry University spokesman said: “Dr Reid’s comments were intended in the spirit of support. As a university we support an approach to dialogue and discussion, whether anonymous or open. According to independent surveys, Dr Reid’s students express high levels of satisfaction.”