2008 Woodie Awards
University to test common course evaluation in fall 2008
Rachel Perron
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Campus
At the end of fall semester 2008, the Provost's Office and the Academic Policy Committee (APC) will conduct a pilot test of a university-administered instructor evaluation form in selected courses across campus.
The common course evaluation template includes 15 questions measuring four main dimensions of teaching-approach, critical thinking, understanding context and reflecting-as well as acting and learning. Students will answer on a scale of one through five, one being strongly disagree and five being strongly agree.
According to Tim Krehbiel, chair of the APC and professor of decision sciences, next semester's pilot will be analyzed in spring of 2009 to make sure the evaluation is short enough, questions are understandable and scores are consistent within a range of data.
Kriehbiel added that the earliest common course evaluations would be implemented is fall of 2009, and divisions and departments will still be able to include their own questions.
Though all courses are required to be evaluated, according to Kriehbiel, as of now there are no standard questions administered by Miami, and different divisions and departments have different forms.
"There are real core values that hold across the university," he said. "Currently we don't have a good evaluation form across all the schools."
Having no common course evaluation makes it difficult for Provost Jeffrey Herbst to compare faculty members, according to Ann Frymier, associate dean of the Graduate School and associate professor of communication.
"Course evaluations are one of the main forms in evaluating basic promotions, tenures, raises," Frymier said. "It's very hard to use that information when measured differently across the board."
The common course evaluation would make information more fair and equitable, she explained, and part of the APC's analysis of the test pilot will be making sure no questions are biased to a particular department.
For instance, Kriehbiel said asking students to rate instructors as a lecturer on how well they explain terms may not be as essential to an English course as they are to a chemistry course.
The common course evaluation template includes 15 questions measuring four main dimensions of teaching-approach, critical thinking, understanding context and reflecting-as well as acting and learning. Students will answer on a scale of one through five, one being strongly disagree and five being strongly agree.
According to Tim Krehbiel, chair of the APC and professor of decision sciences, next semester's pilot will be analyzed in spring of 2009 to make sure the evaluation is short enough, questions are understandable and scores are consistent within a range of data.
Kriehbiel added that the earliest common course evaluations would be implemented is fall of 2009, and divisions and departments will still be able to include their own questions.
Though all courses are required to be evaluated, according to Kriehbiel, as of now there are no standard questions administered by Miami, and different divisions and departments have different forms.
"There are real core values that hold across the university," he said. "Currently we don't have a good evaluation form across all the schools."
Having no common course evaluation makes it difficult for Provost Jeffrey Herbst to compare faculty members, according to Ann Frymier, associate dean of the Graduate School and associate professor of communication.
"Course evaluations are one of the main forms in evaluating basic promotions, tenures, raises," Frymier said. "It's very hard to use that information when measured differently across the board."
The common course evaluation would make information more fair and equitable, she explained, and part of the APC's analysis of the test pilot will be making sure no questions are biased to a particular department.
For instance, Kriehbiel said asking students to rate instructors as a lecturer on how well they explain terms may not be as essential to an English course as they are to a chemistry course.
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