by Bryan Gibel
Daily Lobo
Over the next couple weeks, students will fill in bubbles on Scantron sheets for all their classes, but they're not just tests.
ICES evaluations play a key role in whether professors get promotions and receive tenure, Deputy Provost Richard Holder said.
"Student evaluations through the ICES forms are one of the ways we measure whether the candidate is a good teacher," he said. "I read every comment on every sheet I get, and I see all of the evaluations for each professor up for review."
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Holder said faculty promotions are mostly based on professors' teaching and research performances, and ICES is one of the main ways teaching is evaluated.
For some professors, the semester evaluations have been the deciding factor for receiving tenure, he said.
"I've seen people denied tenure because of very poor teaching evaluations," he said. "I've also seen people who've gotten tenure because of very good evaluations."
Holder said he couldn't give specific examples because personnel evaluations are confidential.
He said the evaluations are also reviewed by the department heads.
The evaluations also influence whether a professor gets a raise at the end of the year, he said.
The University is looking to replace the ICES system, because it is outdated. It is testing an evaluation system called IDEA in eight classes this semester. The IDEA system gives instructors feedback on how to improve their teaching.
Although professors review how they have been evaluated, they don't usually look at the evaluations individually, said Jennifer George, an administrator for the Department of Anthropology.
"We send them to CIRT, who calculates scores for the individual professors and for the department," she said. "The professor gets a summary of their individual reports."
Some instructors make sure to take a look at each evaluation.
Assistant professor in biology Cristina Takacs-Vesbach said she uses the comments on her evaluations to improve her teaching.
"When I get my ICES scores back, I read them, and then when I go to teach next year's class, I take those statements very seriously," she said.
Takacs-Vesbach said she has received evaluations critical of her teaching style, but her students' criticism was constructive and respectful.
"I've only seen serious replies on my scores," she said. "They haven't all been good, but I haven't received any flippant comments."
Anthropology professor Les Field said ICES evaluations are more of a popularity contest than an analysis of teaching ability.
"Evaluations shouldn't be about liking or disliking the professor as a person. It should deal with their effectiveness as a teacher," he said. "I don't think (ICES) are the best way for students to give input."
Field said ICES tell professors how to improve their teaching.
They can also contribute to grade inflation, because professors are afraid to get negative evaluations if they give out bad grades, he said.
Field said he gave out his own evaluation form in fall 2005 and received surprising comments from his students.
"Students told me they wanted to be judged by homework instead of just tests," he said.
Field said he adapted his course content based on what students told him.
Field said another problem with the ICES evaluations is that many students don't fill them out.
"Many students don't really want to be here and can't be reached," he said. "Maybe a third of the students aren't going to respond or engage in that dialogue at all."
what students think
Some students don't fill out evaluations, because they say they're a waste of time, student Ryan Sciarrotta said.
"I don't think it makes that big a difference, because the questions aren't too specific," he said. "A lot of the questions are just sort of bland. I think a different approach would be better."
Sciarrotta said professors should be evaluated on their grading process.
"I have had a bunch of teachers that I didn't feel graded correctly," he said. "They weren't strict enough. If you feel you can just get away with anything, you don't have a motive to work harder."
Student Roshaon Ross said she's unsure the evaluations make a difference.
"I've had quite a few teachers that I've knocked down because of insufficient teaching skills," she said. "Then I've seen them teaching the same class over and over and heard the same complaints from other students."
But Ross said it's ultimately up to the teachers if the evaluations will be effective.
"I've had professors who say they look at their evaluations, take the critiques seriously and try to change their teaching technique," she said. "Others have said they don't read the comments, so we should just fill in the bubbles."
