2008 Woodie Awards
MU considers changes to evaluation process
Katie Booher
Issue date: 4/17/07 Section: Campus
In an effort to make students, faculty and staff take end-of-course reviews more seriously, the Miami University senate debated changes to the evaluations April 16 during its regular meeting.
Ted Wagenaar, a sociology and gerontology professor and chair of the senate subcommittee on student evaluations, led
the discussion.
"The evaluations have two end goals," Wagenaar said. "One is to help faculty improve their teaching and the second is to help administrators evaluate the quality of the teaching."
Wagenaar said that over the past school year, the committee interviewed about 80 faculty members and more than 300 students to help them decide what changes, if any, should be made to feedback forms.
One of the main problems both students and staff reported was that the evaluations were handed out at the end of class on the last day of classes, according to Wagenaar.
"We need to educate everyone about the importance of student evaluations," Wagenaar said. "We have a climate on campus where students don't take this seriously, faculty don't take it seriously and it's questionable how seriously the administration take them. We have to work to change that."
William Snavely, Farmer School of Business associate dean and professor, said the problem goes beyond students and faculty.
"We need to talk to the chairs about taking these seriously (as well)," Snavely said. "We can't expect faculty to take (evaluations) seriously if we don't."
Wagenaar also recommended changes to the types of questions asked in order to elicit better responses from students.
"We need to focus on what (President) David Hodge wants us to, which is student learning and not faculty teaching," Wagenaar said. "Targeted, open-ended questions would allow us to do that."
Currently, end-of-course evaluations are different from department to department. Wagenaar said the committee would not look at changing that format, but might consider a few common items to be included on every
Ted Wagenaar, a sociology and gerontology professor and chair of the senate subcommittee on student evaluations, led
the discussion.
"The evaluations have two end goals," Wagenaar said. "One is to help faculty improve their teaching and the second is to help administrators evaluate the quality of the teaching."
Wagenaar said that over the past school year, the committee interviewed about 80 faculty members and more than 300 students to help them decide what changes, if any, should be made to feedback forms.
One of the main problems both students and staff reported was that the evaluations were handed out at the end of class on the last day of classes, according to Wagenaar.
"We need to educate everyone about the importance of student evaluations," Wagenaar said. "We have a climate on campus where students don't take this seriously, faculty don't take it seriously and it's questionable how seriously the administration take them. We have to work to change that."
William Snavely, Farmer School of Business associate dean and professor, said the problem goes beyond students and faculty.
"We need to talk to the chairs about taking these seriously (as well)," Snavely said. "We can't expect faculty to take (evaluations) seriously if we don't."
Wagenaar also recommended changes to the types of questions asked in order to elicit better responses from students.
"We need to focus on what (President) David Hodge wants us to, which is student learning and not faculty teaching," Wagenaar said. "Targeted, open-ended questions would allow us to do that."
Currently, end-of-course evaluations are different from department to department. Wagenaar said the committee would not look at changing that format, but might consider a few common items to be included on every
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