Students will have access to evaluations online
■ Students wonder if Web
based archives will be useful
By Beata Mostafavi
Oregon Daily Emerald
After 10 weeks of classes that bring
loads of midterms and papers, stu
dents get to swap sides and give the
professors report cards - in the form
of student evaluations. And after
spending time at the end of each term
filling in bubbles, some may wonder
where those scantrons go.
By this summer, the University
hopes to have some of the evaluation
data available online, said Jack Rice,
associate vice provost for academic
affairs. Rice said creating an online
database that stores such information
has been an ongoing project, and he
hopes it will be finished by the begin
ning of next year.
During the final week of classes,
students fill out questionnaires that, if
signed, go into the teacher’s perma
nent file. They also submit evalua
tions via scantrons.
Although all departments may ask
questions specific to their courses,
each is required to ask four common
questions that students may later ac
cess. They ask students to rate the
course and teacher compared to other
classes of the same size and level.
In the past, the ASUO stapled to
gether 20-page pamphlets containing
results of the four questions, but the
administration found problems with
the books. ASUO Programs Coordi
nator Tambi Boyle, who was in
volved with the online evaluation
project last year, said the manuals had
errors including blank spots, number
errors and misspelled names.
Rice said the biggest problems with
the pamphlet idea were that it wasted
paper, cost money to produce and
only allowed students to see classes
from the previous term. Students
who want to take Sociology 202, for
example, could not find information
on the class if it had not been offered
the last term, he said. He added that
by accessing the Web archive he envi
sions, students could turn up three or
four years of the evaluation results.
“A Web-based system would be
beneficial to everyone,” he said.
Last year, the ASUO attempted to
work with Rice to put together the
Web site, but the project was never
completed. The ASUO has since
stepped aside and has left the work
up to the administration.
ASUO President Jay Breslow said
while the ASUO has not made any ef
forts to publish the evaluations this
year as it has done previous years, he
still thinks it’s a good idea.
“We should have done it this year,”
Breslow said.
How much difference
does it make?
But some students are a little skep
tical about how helpful it would
even be to look at other people’s
course ratings.
Annemarie Kalson, a junior gener
al science major, said the problem
with public course rankings is that
people would not know why some
one else ranked a teacher poorly.
“Sometimes it’s justified, some
times it’s a clash of personalities,” she
said.
Kalson added that while she does
not think public evaluations would
really help students choose classes,
they would be interesting to read.
Some students formed their own
system of finding out what others
have to say about courses. For exam
ple, the Gamma Phi Beta sorority re
cently began a scholarship list, where
members can evaluate classes based
on difficulty and workload, teacher’s
character and teaching styles.
Stephanie Coombs, a sophomore
member, said the system works out
well because the women can go back
and ask each other why they ranked
teachers and classes a certain way.
She said the benefit of this kind of set
up is that many core classes are listed,
which helps people select teachers.
“It helps especially freshmen and
sophomores who don’t know teach
ers and have to take basic classes,”
she said.
But other students wonder how
much of a difference student evalua
tions even make.
Kalson said that because she’s nev
er had any major complaints about
her classes, she usually doesn’t spend
too much time on evaluations.
“To tell you the truth, I usually rush
through it,” she said. “I don’t feel so
much that my individual voice is
heard.”
But some teachers find the materi
al very useful. Scott Fitzpatrick, an
anthropology graduate teaching fel
low, said the evaluations help him re
fine his teaching methods.
Rice said it is important that stu
dents take the time to thoroughly and
honestly fill out evaluations, which
are reviewed by supervising boards.
“It’s more than worth it, it’s impera
tive,” he said. “We very much value
student opinions. ”
University of Oregon
COURSE EVALUATION REPORT
Average winter term 2001 evaluation scores for several top University departments and the
instructors within those departments, listed in ascending order.
A = Exceptionally Good (10)
B = Good (8)
C = Average (6)
D = Below Average (4)
F = Unsatisfactory (2)
ABC 0 F SCORE
1 ■ Ini comparison with other U0 courses of this size and level,
In comparison with other UG courses of this size and level,
2. In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
3. In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
4. In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
; In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
5. In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level
6. In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
In comparison with other UO courses ot this size and level,
7. In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
8. In comparison with other UO courses of this size and level,
In comparison with other UO courses ot this size and level,
how does the sociology department rate?
how does the psychology department rate?
how does the average instructor rate?
how does the School of Journalism rate?
how does the average instructor rate?
how does the political science department rate?
how does the English department rate?
how does the economics department rate?
how does the School of Fine & Applied Arts rate?
how does the international studies department rate?
how does the average instructor rate?
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The political science department did not have the evaluation scores on file
No departmental averages were available from the School of Fine & Applied Arts
Get Ready for
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