Treatment-Control

I finally got up the nerve to look at the course evaluations from the fall. I taught two sections of the gen-ed class in the fall. I used the same syllabus. The same textbook. The same lecture notes. The same homework assignments. The same exams. Held the same office hours. Told the same jokes. ("A bus carrying an infinite baseball team pulls up in front of the Hilbert Hotel, looking to stay the night. Do you know the name of the team? [beat] The Cardinals.")

On everything -- from "length/difficulty of homework assignments" to "relationship of exams to material emphasized" to "availability of extra help when needed" to "textbook overall" -- the afternoon class gave consistently much lower ratings.