After a new teacher evaluation program was introduced to the University last year, a few departments are using it and more are beginning to switch over.
The new system is called Individual Development and Educational Assessment, and according to its Web site is a program located in Kansas that has been offering their teacher evaluation services to other universities across the country for years.
With this new system, individual universities are no longer responsible for calculating their own evaluation forms.
Evaluation forms are sent to the university, students fill them out, and they are sent to the center in Kansas where they are processed and organized before being sent back to the university.
The design of the new forms is research-based on evaluation on teaching, said Mark Gromko, Vice Provost of Academic Programs.
The Provost Office offered a “pilot version” of the new program to whatever departments wanted to try it.
The new IDEA form “does a much better job than our home-grown ones do,” Gromko said.
One of the aspects of the new form is that it asks students about their personal study habits.
Students with good study habits tend to give higher evaluations, Gromko said.
Angela Nelson, Chair of the Popular Culture department, said the fact that the forms get sent out is one of the most convenient aspects.
“I just like the idea that we get it all gathered and ship it out. No faculty member touches it,” she said.
Originally, Nelson said, their evaluation scores were calculated by their department, and teachers were given a letter grade. But Nelson said the IDEA forms come back with student feedback as well as suggestions for changes.
“The center collects data from across the nation,” she said, and the research allows the program to make informative suggestions.
Karen Sirum, an assistant professor in the biology department, liked the fact that the IDEA forms also take into account how each teacher approaches the class.
For example, some teachers don’t lecture, so their lecture points wouldn’t count.
Sirum also liked how the form put more emphasis on feedback instead of just a score.
“It allows faculty members to receive feedback,” she said. “[It’s]more precise, detailed information to benefit students.”
Nelson believes that the way this benefits students is a long-term process.
“It doesn’t help a student who’s already finished the class,” she said. “Maybe it will be a better class the next semester.”
The forms are available in both paper form and online. Both Nelson and Sirum’s departments have participated in the program since it started in last spring.
“My hope is that the Provost Office continues to do it,” Nelson said.
