University Affairs, said faculty
members’ portfolios also include
their teaching evaluation scores.
These portfolios are reviewed by
executive committees that make
recommendations to the dean
for
performance-based
salary
increases.
What the surveys themselves
look like can differ, sometimes
significantly, but each starts with
four University-wide questions,
commonly known as Q1 through
Q4. These questions have been the
focus of current debate because
they are constant in surveys across
campus.
Q1 asks students to rate “Overall,
this was an excellent course.” Q2
is “Overall, the instructor was
an excellent teacher.” Q3 asks
students to evaluate the statement,
“I learned a great deal from this
course.” Q4 asks, “I had a strong
desire to take this course.”
Typically,
departments
form the rest of the evaluation
questionnaire, but professors have
the ability to add questions as well.
After including Q1-Q4, faculty
have the option to choose from
a catalogue of about 1,300 other
questions — some are broad while
others are dedicated to specific
courses.
Student
governments
and
various departments and schools
have sent in requests to include
questions in the catalogue over the
years. The questions date back to
1996, and are sorted into different
categories,
such
as
“student
development”
or
“instructor
effectiveness,” according to the
Office of the Registrar.
Political Science Prof. Mika
LaVaque-Manty,
who
has
conducted research on course
evaluations for a University task
force on learning analytics, said
he’s found that many professors
don’t deviate from the standard
survey their department creates.
Szymanksi
said
many
professors pay most attention to
the first four questions because
they’re administered across the
University, making it easy to draw
comparisons.
“Using the other questions may
help you design your course better,
but it’s not going to tell you very
much about student satisfaction
overall with your course, relative
to the other courses that they’re
taking,” Szymanksi said.
In a November interview with
The Michigan Daily, University
Provost
Martha
Pollack
said
she
believers
the
current
course evaluation questions are
satisfactory,
but
acknowledged
that they haven’t been revised for
some time.
“It’s a good instrument,” she
said. “We’ve used it for many years,
but it hasn’t been changed in a
lot of years. It’s really important
that we get that right, and so I
appointed people with expertise in
educational assessment and so on
to look at the questions.”
Seeking a purpose
For some involved in the current
redesign process, the focus isn’t only
on the questions themselves, but on
the climate the evaluations foster.
Central Student Government
president Cooper Charlton, an LSA
senior, said he thought issues with
the evaluation system stem from
flaws in University culture.
“It’s the climate we have on
campus,” he said. “Students need
to come to the table willing to
give constructive criticism … and
faculty should look at the course
evaluations as a way for them to
grow. I think systemically we
need to work together to build
a culture where not only course
evaluations, but higher education
in general, has a more high-impact
and collaborative atmosphere.”
SACUA
Chair
Silke-Maria
Weineck, a professor of comparative
literature, said it could be beneficial
to include more questions that
emphasize the two-way dynamic
between teacher and student.
“I would like the questions to
also have collaborative aspects
to bring out the fact that students
are such an important part of each
class … (and) make sure that it’s a
shared enterprise to teach a class,”
Weineck said.
In
particular,
she
cited
questions
about
a
student’s
responsibility in the classroom.
Other universities, such as the
University of Washington, use
student-centric questions in their
evaluations to assess how much
effort a student put into the class
and his or her interest in the
course material, for example.
Out of the 1,300 total questions
in
the
University’s
question
catalog, there are six — added
in 1996 — that ask students to
reflect
on
their
participation
and effort. From these “student
responsibility” questions, none
are administered across the entire
University.
English Prof. David Porter,
chair of the English Department,
wrote in an e-mail interview
that he questions whether the
release of course evaluations
would succeed in fulfilling what
he described as their intended
purpose — improving course and
teaching quality.
“Speaking
from
personal
experience, growing into one’s full
potential as a classroom teacher is
an ongoing process spanning years
and even decades, and requiring
patience, perseverance, and a great
deal of trial and error,” Porter wrote.
“To release course evaluation data
to a broader audience than that for
which it is intended would not, in
my view, be helpful in our long-term
efforts to provide the highest level
of instruction for students in our
English courses that we possibly
can.”
LaVaque-Manty, who supports
the release of the evaluations,
said he thought it would be best
if it didn’t happen in a bubble — if
faculty provided resources beyond
evaluations to help students make
informed decisions about which
classes they take.
“I wish faculty were more
diligent
in
filling
out
better
descriptions of their courses for the
course guide,” he said. “I wish in
LSA they participated in the syllabi
project, which is making their
syllabi available for courses … there
are other data tools in development
that tell us who’s taking this class,
what have they taken before, what
do they go onto take, this would be
really valuable information. I think
all of this stuff should be available
to students.”
Finding a structure
Even if evaluations are released
or redesigned, faculty and students
over the past months have identified
several structural barriers to using
the data — namely, low response
rates and bias — that may need to be
addressed.
In Winter 2015, LSA’s course
evaluation response rate was at
approximately 48 percent — the
lowest in the period from 2008-
2015 according to the Office of the
Registrar.
Response rates have been on the
decline for several years, especially
following the University’s switch
to electronic evaluations in 2008,
when response rates have remained
on average by 15 to 20 percentage
points lower than with paper
evaluations.
Acknowledging the importance
of considering response rates,
Pollack
said
she
thought
a
committee of faculty and students
should look at the issue after an
evaluation instrument is finalized.
The committee’s work is expected
to conclude in April.
“I think it’s absolutely right to be
concerned about response rates,”
she said. “When we use it internally,
we’re always very cautious to look
at response rates and what the
response rates are and what they
signify.”
Charlton said he thought the
low response rates might stem
from the lack of accessibility of
the evaluations, and the problem
might self-correct if they are
released.
“Students don’t think course
evaluations will help them because
faculty don’t feel comfortable
releasing them, so students don’t
fill them out,” he said. “And when
students do fill them out, they feel
obligated to treat them as a joke.
So we acknowledge that they’re
low, but the reason they’re low
is because in reality, they don’t
provide any value to students.”
Several
universities
offer
incentives for students to submit
evaluations, many of which are
tied to access to evaluation data.
Northwestern University, which
does
release
evaluation
data,
has a policy where students who
don’t fill out evaluations cannot
gain access to evaluations for the
upcoming quarter.
In an e-mail interview, Alison
Phillips, Northwestern’s senior
assistant registrar, said the policy
was implemented as an incentive
to keep response rates at high.
Northwestern’s
course
evaluation response rates average
between 65 and 70 percent,
noticeably higher than LSA’s 48
percent.
CSG Communications Director
Alexandra
George,
a
Public
Policy junior, said there is a need
not just for course evaluations
to be released, but also for a
better understanding of how and
where the results will appear,
which is where an approach like
Northwestern’s might be helpful.
“I feel that if we were to actually
release this course evaluation
data, people would see that it can
be used,” she said. “If you used it
to help you pick your classes, why
would you not pay it forward?”
Other schools, like Michigan
State
University,
withhold
students’ grades for one week
if they fail to fill out evaluation
surveys at the end of the grading
period.
MSU’s course evaluations are
not openly published, but MSU
sophomore Meghan Shelton said
she believes the policy has had
a negative impact on quality of
responses, though it may help
with quantity.
“I feel like students fill them out
as fast as they can just to get it over
with so they can get their grades,”
Shelton said.
LaVaque-Manty said if the
University were to adopt such a
policy, it would be important to
think of the negative impacts.
“It changes the nature of the
instrument,”
LaVaque-Manty
said. “You would fill it out possibly
angrily as another task that might
color your judgment.”
Along with a low pool of data,
at an Oct. 12 SACUA meeting that
preceded the Faculty Senate vote
to delay the release of evaluations,
faculty also questioned whether
sexism or racism leads to bias in
student responses.
LaVaque-Manty said based on
his research, individual bias due
to gender and race is evident in
classrooms, both in open-ended
comments
and
quantitative
measurements.
However, he also stressed that
those biases tend to disappear
from the overall quantitative
data, except for some instances of
gender bias appearing when data
is analyzed at the departmental
level.
George thinks that overall,
there is no way to anticipate what
the impact of releasing course
evaluation data might be —
whether that means good or bad
outcomes. However, she said she
thinks the outcomes will disprove
faculty expectations of student
behavior.
“Right
now
when
I
fill
(evaluations) out, I think, ‘Where
is this going? If I never see it, then
who’s really looking at this?’ ”
George said. “I know it’s easy to
think cynically and to think that
students would just take advantage
of it, but I truly believe that if this
were to be utilized, then everyone
on campus would use this as a tool.”
EVALUATIONS
From Page 1A
2-News
2A — Thursday, November 19, 2015
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
THREE THINGS YOU
SHOULD KNOW TODAY
Senior
Arts
Editor
Catherine
Sulpizio
turns the traditional
Thanksgiving
menu
on its head. Check out these
innovative holiday recipes in
the Thanksgiving B-Side.
>>SEE B-SIDE, PAGE 1B
2
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Trading
webinar
WHAT: Citi’s Regional
Head of Markets will
lecture on why a career in
trading is the right choice
for women.
WHO: Career Center
WHEN: Today from 3:30
p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
WHERE: Michigan
Union Ballroom
Peace Corps
lecture
WHAT: Returned Peace
Corps volunteers will
share their stories.
WHO: School of
Social Work
WHEN: Today from
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Social Work
Building, Room B780
Abdelhamid
Abaaoud,
alleged
ringleader
of
the Paris terror attacks,
was killed Wednesday during
a raid, The Washington Post
reported. Two people were
reported killed and seven were
arrested during the raid.
1
TedX gallery
opening
WHAT: TEDxUofM
speaker Allen Samuels will
lead a discussion at the
opening of the TEDxUofM
Chroma gallery.
WHO: TEDx Foundation
WHEN: Today from 6 p.m.
to 9 p.m.
WHERE: Duderstadt
Center
Chinese
police
are
said to have killed 17
people during a raid in
Xinjiang last week, The
New York Times reported.
The operation was connected
to a September knife attack
where separatists killed 50
people.
3
Deepa Iyer
lecture
WHAT: Author Deepa
Iyer will explore issues of
racial identities through
the stories of young South
Asian, Arab and Muslim
immigrants.
WHO: Center for South
Asian Studies
WHEN: Today at 4 p.m.
WHERE: South Hall, Room
1225
Jamaal May
book signing
WHAT: The Helen Zell
Visitng Writers Series is
sponsoring a reading and
book signing of Detroit
author Jamaal May.
WHO: Helen Zell Writers’
Program
WHEN: Today from 5:30
p.m. to 6:50 p.m.
WHERE: Museum of Art,
Helmut Stern Auditorium
TUESDAY:
Campus Voices
THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk
FRIDAY:
Photos of the Week
WEDNESDAY:
In Other Ivory Towers
MONDAY:
This Week in History
University law students
highlight their professor of
the year.
“I love @UMichLaw’s strong
community. This is MLaw’s Prof.
of the Year @jdmortenson
lecturing on work-life balance”
— @UMichStudents
“Congrats to Prof. William Baxteron
@lingsocam’s Leonard Bloomfield Book
Award for 2016! @umichling #UmichA-
sian”
—@umichLSA
LSA praises faculty for their winning
paper offered by the Linguistic Society
of America.
Each week, “Twitter Talk”
is a forum to print tweets
that are fun, informative,
breaking or newsworthy,
with an angle on the
University, Ann Arbor and
the state. All tweets have
been edited for accurate
spelling and grammar.
The Stamps School of Art & Design
promotes jewelry artist Yasushi
Jona’s new line of corroded rings.
“Didn’t you hear? Ancient is the
new vintage.”
- @UM_Stamps
FOLLOW US!
#TMD
@michigandaily
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OOPSIE DAISY
SINDUJA KILARU/Daily
LSA junior David Schafer unsuccessfully removes a piece
from the Jenga game hosted by TedX in the Diag on
Wednesday.
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International
coffee hour
WHAT: International
Center, Rackham Student
Government, International
Institute and the School of
Social Work host a coffee
hour with pie.
WHO: School of Social
Work
WHEN: Today from 3 p.m
to 4 p.m.
WHERE: School of Social
Work, First Floor
Transgender
remembrance
WHAT: The Transgen-
der Day of Remembrance
Ceremony will com-
memorate trans individuals
killed because of trans-
phobia and cissexism.
WHO: Spectrum Center
WHEN: Today from
7 p.m to 9 p.m.
WHERE: The West
Quad Connector
Hunger
Games dinner
WHAT: A student choice,
Hunger Games themed
dinner at East Quad.
WHO: Michigan Dining
WHEN: Today from 5 p.m.
to 8 p.m.
WHERE: East Quad
Dining Hall