Wednesday, July 19, 1995 - The Michigan Daily - 9
Feedback forms
revamped for
Sclarity, accuracy
Five-year veteran "art fairers" MareAn Flanders and her husband Irv prepare the floor for their booth on State St. yesterday.
Food, art booths draw crowds
UUof 500,000 to A2 for annual fair
New questionnaires
look to 'recognize and
reward' teaching in
promotion decisions
By Marisa Ma
Daily Staff Reporter
At the end of the semester many stu-
dents struggle to complete final exams.
Many, however, also tackle those course
evaluation forms that arrive around the
same time.
With the feedback from schools
and colleges, department chairs, deans,
curriculum committees, and focus
groups of teaching assistants and stu-
dent leaders, the Center for Research
on Learning and Teaching is attempt-
ing to create a clearer questionnaire for
students to fill out.
The changes this fall include the
addition of a "not applicable" response to
the answers and clearer indications of
whether the professor or the teaching as-
sistant is being evaluated. In addition
CRLT will be labeling the information
that will be used in the Advice publica-
tion, an aid for students in choosing
classes.
CRLT will also encourage depart-
ments and schools to review questions
that they may have chosen years ago for
applicability to classes and instructors.
"We are eager to craft a better system
for evaluating teaching, so that teaching
can be recognized and rewarded more
fully," said Connie Cook, director of
CRLT and the force behind the new
changes.
Cook said it has become more impor-
tant to have a more accurate student rat-
ing system since more attention is being
paid to this system in tenured, promotion
and merit pay decisions.
Jim Kulick, a research scientist at
CRLT, said that their20-year-old comput-
erized instructor-designed questionnaire
system is now used widely by the Univer-
sity, but the form has not changed much
Considerable changes in the future are not
unexpected.
"It's an opportunity for students to
help teaching and the University by let-
ting teachers, departments and adminis-
tration see how they feel about what goes
on in classes," Kulick said. "We're hop-
ing that students will find the forms more
relevant as they fill (them) out."
In fact, these changes address many
of the concerns of recent Engineering
graduate Heather Newhouse.
"The No, 1 one complaint is that the
questions don't fit the class. ... For ex
ample, for science courses, they assume
there's a lab," Newhouse said. She said
a choice of "not applicable" will solve
this.
"I would say that students pay atten-
tion (in answering the questionnaires) if
the teacher is very good or very bad,"
Newhouse said. Like many students,
Newhouse said she does not place a
strong emphasis on completing course
evaluations.
The new system will offer additional
information to instructors by comparing
their courses to others similar in disci-
pline, size and level rather than general
comparisons of previous years.
Still Newhouse believes that the re-
sults generally influence the younger
teachers more than the established
ones.
Additional programming of the ques-
tionnaire system will start soon, and both
Cook and Kulick expect that an initial
tryout will take'place for fall term.
If the trial is a success, the implemen-
tation and distribution of the new CRLT
evaluation forms are expected in winter
term.
ART FAQ.
Continued from page 1
from the Public Interest Research Group
In Michigan, said PIRGIM will present
a "multimedia presentation of our activi-
ties over the past year." The group will
@so distribute literature and attempt to
raise money.
The Coalition Against the Contract
On America and other University po-
litical groups will also be present to
raise both funds and awareness for
their causes.
"Those people get pushy and shove
their brochures in your face, but the art
fair is too cool for them to ruin it alto-
gether," said Engineering junior Brad
*intner about the activists in the non-
profit section of the art fair. "It's a
shame you have to walk through it to
get from one art fair to the other, but
most people just ignore them."
With more than half a million ex-
pected to attend the art fairs and mil-
lions of dollars in goods lining the
streets, art fair security is a major con-
cern of both vendors and of police.
"We increase manpower during the
day, but we double the manpower at
*ight," said Sgt. Debra Ceo of the Ann
Arbor Police Department.
Many vendors will leave their
wares in the booths at night, and some
will stay throughout the night to guard
their art. Ceo said the organizers of the
art fairs hired security patrols to pro-
tect the artwork during the night.
"Alcohol violations have decreased
from four years ago because an ordi-
nance to outlaw the possession of open
*lcoholic beverages is enacted," Ceo
said. Violators will be charged up to
$100.
Local store owners expect a jump
in business during the four days of the
When you're tired of wa li..."
8 Demonstrations in watercolor, basketweaving, photography, painting, drawing,
and ceramics will be held at various exhibitors' booths throughout the fair.
The following sites will serve as entertainment venues:
The Main Street Stage at W. William and S. Main
Liberty Plaza at W. Liberty and S. Division
State Street and N. University
S. University and E. University
8 Scheduled performers include the Chenille Sisters, 3 Men and a Tenor, the
Impatients, Whirling Road, Big Dave and the Ultrasonics, and the Lollipop Guild.
Check venue postings for up-to-date schedules.
art fair.
Susan Froelich, the coordinator for
the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, said that
vendors on private property without a
permit will be fined.
Froelich also said that all three art
fairs work with Dawn Farms Organiza-
tion, a substance-abuse rehab group, to
help clean up Ann Arbor during the
four-day fair. "They bring in a group to
help set up booths and they work all day
picking up trash and taking them to the
dumpsters."
This year the Ann Arbor Street Art
Fair received close to 2,000 applications
for 189 booths. Artists new to the fair
will occupy 66 of those booths.
Elizabeth Lurie of Farmington
Hills, who specializes in functional
and sculptural porcelain, is one of the
new artists attending.
"In order to be selected as an artist
in the art fair, each artist had to submit
five slides, which was later viewed by
a panel of jurors," she said.
To check out local art created by col-
lege students, head toward East Univer-
sity Avenue. where their booths will be
set up.
Another draw of the Ann Arbor
Street Art Fair is the artist demonstra-
tions, which take place at 20 different
artist booths throughout all four days
of the fair.
Each year the Ann Arbor Street
Fair selects one of its artists to create
original artwork for the poster and T-
shirt.
This year, Paul Jackson, a fifth-
year veteran of the fairs from Colum-
bia, Mo. was selected for his poster,
titled "Woody's Wild Ride." The
poster aims to capture the first sign of
summer with wooden figure-drawing
models riding dragonflies through a
lush summer swamp.
A wide variety of food is available
to fair-goers, from close to 100 estab-
lished downtown restaurants and tem-
porary food booths.
Ceo advised fair-goers to be care-
ful, but enjoy themselves. "There areI
large crowds, be patient, enjoy the fair,
and don't forget to write down where
you park because most people forget."
she said.
-e -.~e~d r~' . ,-
Espresso * Cappuccino
" Gourmet Teas " Fresh French Pastries
" erba Mate * Haagen Dazs Ice Cream
Mediterranean Salads Spinach & Cheese Pies
Fresh Juice Bar Deli Sandwiches