New class evaluation forms ready for use
Several years of dissatisfaction led the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to seek a new way of evaluating classes and instructors' performances. The group recently approved recommendations made by a task force to reconfigure how and what kind of information is gathered from students and teaching peers in the evaluation process.
Among the recommended changes, the new evaluations will do away with generic questions, increase input from colleagues and include teachers themselves in the process.
Dan Bernstein, professor of psychology, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and a member of the task force, said in the past, overall questions such as "what did you think of the course?" provided vague answers and often were used as a shortcut to avoid answering other questions. Student questions will be more specific, and Bernstein said the students' input is still highly valued.
"Some voice by the students should be part of the mix, and it will remain part of the mix," he said.
The task force recommended such questions could still be part of an evaluation but should be asked during the semester, perhaps at midterm, when there is still time to make adjustments. Under the recommendations, student questions should focus on if the instructor is clear, organized, respectful, accessible, understandable and if the course objectives are clear.
The faculty peer review section of the new evaluations may include questions such as "How does this teacher conduct courses?" "How does this teacher prepare for courses?" "What teaching work has the faculty member done in addition to teaching courses?" and "Has the faculty member made progress over time in development of teaching and/or shared teaching work with colleagues?"
Bernstein stressed that not all schools and departments will be required to use identical evaluations and that questions can be tailored to fit the mission of each individual department. The task force also recommended following current university policy and not requiring that evaluations be forwarded to department chairs or to the provost.
The top goal of the evaluations is for faculty to be able to learn from them and improve their teaching.
"Our hope is to create a form that is inherently valuable to faculty," Bernstein said. "We wanted to make learning visible in this process."
The task force's recommendations were presented to the Faculty Senate last spring and were endorsed enthusiastically by the senate.
"There was a round of spontaneous applause when Professor Bernstein finished his presentation, a truly unique occurrence in university governance," said Richard Levy, Distinguished Professor of Law and Faculty Senate president.
The task force will continue its work this fall, finalizing its student evaluation form on the basis of data gathered through trial runs in some classes this spring and assisting with the implementation of its recommendations.
An information session on the new evaluation procedures was held at the All Campus Teaching Summit on Aug. 14. Drafts of the new forms will also be distributed soon. The new forms will be available for use in the fall semester but will not completely go into effect until the spring 2008 semester.
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