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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1991)
EVALUATIONS Continued from Page 1 an Instructor at Academic Learning Services “Tliere are lots of professors who have no evaluations on file," Powell said. "Students who need good teachers have no wav to find them at a great many classes at the University, espet tally lirst year language* and required math classes At thu end of each term, students all over campus rate the teach ers and the courses that have occupied their time for the past do/ e.i or so weeks. For many, it’s an opportunity to praise the inspiring leader ul a great class. For others, it's a chance to clobber the pedant who tor merited them with a course that shouldn't have been inflict I o;i unrepentant felons, let alone bright college students. When all of the evaluations for a class are gathered at the d p nt tnent office, thov are summarized tiv ha; .1 or are sent to tin: on pus Computing Center to be summarized I>v mat,trine The originals are given to the 'nstfucturs after ail grade-, h i\ e ixsen submit! i tnd i : ;r\> - • < to.ii:i-.e.- 'tile it ttia.de determine vv her her a particular instrur'or ! iv i f ., > • oat s true, but d ■ not the w non: s.* : "Student evaluations are ;ust onr ueoe o: ,ie in -irurtor . m lion." said Lorraine Davis, .me provost lor .a aitomu p- rsonrie: They're not the only evaluation of teaching bv any mi an*." Decisions regarding faculty retention, promotion and teuun also are based on interviews with department heads, assessments by other faculty members who sit in on classes, participation in re search and other criteria, Davis said If a student includes signed comments with the evaluation, those, too, go into the instructor's file. Unsigned forms <un be dis carded after the instructor rends them. Departments arc required to send two copies of each evaluation summary to the provost s office, according to University Assembly legislation adopted by faculty in May 1985. When all the summar ies are received, a member of the Student Senate is supposed to pick them up and leave one complete copy at the Knight Library anil another copy in the Office of Academic Advising in Oregon Mall. These rules were adopted In part because students seeking elec tion to ASUO offices in 19H5 made reform of teacher evaluations a hot campaign issue, said Nancie Fadelcy. assistant to the provost. Previously, evaluations were available for students to read inside each department office, but student politicians argued that such an environment was too intimidating. However. Fadeley said she has a complete copy of last spring's evaluations in her office that nobody bothered to pick up The Of fico of Academic Advising doesn’t have copies of evaluations and hasn't had uny in quite some time, a secretary said. In the main library's resorve/periodleals room, where students are supposed to lie ublo to look up (last course evaluations for al most any class offered on campus, many summaries are at best in comprehensible and at worst, non-existent Ono of the best examples of hurd-to-uso evaluation summaries is in the binder for linguistics classes. Tho binder contuins a 3-inch-thick stack of computer paper, still bearing tho tractor printer holes at each end. And tho paper has boon bound into the notebook by weaving a cord in and out of the tractor holes. Also, the sheets haven't been separated at the tops and bottoms, so tho pages cun't even be opened. On the positive side, students who want to read summaries of business or dance classes, or classes in tho chemistry, psychology or Russian departments will find clear, complete, easy-to-use Infor mation. But students seeking lower level classes in math or languages are often out of luck. Those courses are many times listed in the Time Schedule of Classes with no instructor named. Powell said students who sign up for these classes are often on shaky academic ground to begin with and need good teachers most of all. Davis said departments don't list the instructors for some classes bocause they are taught by CTFs whose schedules are not known until after registration. She also said that faculty members are eval uated in nearly every cluss. Powell said that in the past he has sent students to look for eval uation summaries, hut they've been unable to find them. 1 hey ve come hack with excuses like, "ASUO hasn't delivered them." “Somebody ought to he paid to look after course evaluations and make regular reports about instructional quality on campus,” Pow ell said. Davis said tho Student Senate has wrestled with this issue for years, and it is likely there will be changes in the system again. However, It may not matter whether evaluation summaries are clear because most students may not care. Mary Klein, u student worker at the service desk, next to tho shelf where the evaluation* uro kept, said an Emerald reporter is the only person she has seen looking at the documents in the year she has worked there. k - ^ - Pass it on. 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