COLLOQUY

"To allow undergraduate students to evaluate a professor's "command of subject matter" misleads students into thinking they have..." -- Shirley M. Joiner, Ph.D., Independent Scholar (posted 3/20, 2:12 p.m., E.S.T.)

"So, says Patricia Ayres, education is a business and students are customers/consumers in of need consumer satisfaction..." -- John C. Damron, Instructor (posted 3/16, 12 p.m., E.S.T.)

"The evaluations themselves are not the problem, like most faculty point out, you can get some strong valuable feedback from students. It's when the student data (and in many cases the only data) is used to..." -- Robert Stowers, Associate Professor, U. of Wisconsin Stevens Point (posted 2/23, 3:40 p.m., E.S.T.)

"What makes this issue so tough is the element of human frailty: of both the students and of the professors / faculty / staff / administrators. There's no doubt that..." -- Daniel A. Cash, Curriculum Branch Head, U.S. Navy Senior Enlisted Academy, Newport, RI (posted 2/23, 10:20 a.m., E.S.T.)

"I have had students show up for only three meetings out of a semester and they completed evaluation forms for me! One class I had was awful. I knew that they..." -- W.E. Waisala, Ramapo College (posted 2/23, 10:15 a.m., E.S.T.)

"Deja-vu! As Student-Chairperson of a department's "Professor-Performance Evaluation Committee" at Columbia University in the late sixties, perhaps one of..." -- Mattiene Moustakas, M.A., Ed.M. Designer/Inventor/Educator (posted 2/23, 10:10 a.m., E.S.T.)

"I found both the article and the on-line responses to be quite interesting and thoughtful. The ongoing conflict between the..." -- Matthew A. Edwards, Assistant Director of Career Services, St. John's University School of Law (posted 2/23, 10:05 a.m., E.S.T.)

"I have to agree with Raoul A. Arreola. The problem with student evaluations is in the manner in which they are used, not the evaluations themselves. During the three years that I had..." -- Dr. Don Drennon-Gala, Red Earth Education Foundation (posted 2/9, 10:10 a.m., E.S.T.)

"First, if you want free and open debate you should not put limiting words in your survey like 'required'..." -- Anonymous, North Dakota State University, Asst. Prof. (posted 2/5, 3 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Congrats to "adult educator" Ayres at Miami Dade for reminding us that education is a business,..." -- Joe Calabrese, Assistant Director, Core Writing, University of Nev. Reno (posted 2/4, 2:50 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Student evaluations of faculty certainly relate to faculty evaluations of students. What I have found helpful is to..." -- G.I. Martin, Assistant Professor, Montclair State University (posted 2/2, 10 a.m., E.S.T.)

"The recent article discussing student evaluations of college instructors gave rather superficial treatment to the topic. Opinions came in..." -- Bill Girard, Prof. Chem., Univ. of New England (posted 2/1, 2:25 p.m., E.S.T.)

"I have just two simple points with respect to student ratings:..." -- Anthony Duben, Assoc. Dean, Col. of Science and Tech., Southeast Missouri State Univ. (posted 1/30, 12:20 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Education is a business and educators often lose sight of this. Students are our customers and the "customer" must be..." -- Patricia Ayres, Adult Educator, Miami-Dade Community College (posted 1/28, 8:40 a.m., E.S.T.)

"Another complaint about the claim that student ratings come from "someone who's sat through 40 hours of a course": That is obviously not true of every..." -- Denise Beike, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Arkansas (posted 1/27, 4:40 p.m., E.S.T.)

"The January 16 Chronicle article on "Student Evaluations" quoted one researcher as saying, "With student ratings, you've got someone who's sat through 40 hours of a course." Similarly, among these Colloquy responses, another writer opined..." -- James M. Puckett, Associate Professor of Psychology, Texas A&M University, Kingsville (posted 1/26, 12 p.m., E.S.T.)

"All credible authorities on faculty evaluation agree that multiple sources of evidence are required. The evaluation of teaching effectiveness requires information about..." -- Bill Pallett, Director, IDEA Center, Kansas State University (posted 1/23, 3:20 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Although the article attempts to cast doubt on the value of student ratings of professors, some of the responses to the article refocus the concern on the true culprit: inappropriate use of..." -- Lawrence M. Aleamoni, Professor of Special Education, Rehabilitation and School psychology University of Arizona (posted 1/23, 12:20 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Professor Leamnson points to what I believe is the major issue in student evaluations: polarized evaluations (high and low ratings) are likely to be evidence of..." -- Kevin R. McNamara, Asst. Professor of Literature (posted 1/22, 2:10 p.m., E.S.T.)

"The major problem with the use of student evaluation of faculty arises from the current climate of..." -- Richard PonArul, Professor of Finance (posted 1/21, 4:25 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Professor Theall has asked questions about my previous comments and so deserves a response. I claimed the Wilson article and the subsequent debate focused too much attention on..." -- Wayne Joerding, Professor, Washington State University (posted 1/21, 10 a.m., E.S.T.)

"I'd be surprised if student evaluations played a significant role in tenure decisions. I'm convinced that these evaluations have no bearing on..." -- Stephen M. Siegel, Student, Peter F. Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University (posted 1/21, 9:45 a.m., E.S.T.)

"I'd suggest that the relationship between teaching quality and student ratings (I maintain that they are ratings, not evaluations) is certainly complex and depends on multiple factors. One of the complexities is that..." -- Henry Schaffer, Assoc. VP Acad Affairs - UNC General Admin. (posted 1/21, 9:45 a.m., E.S.T.)

"Everything I have read about student evaluation of faculty suggests that student evaluations are consistent. But that, I think, means that on average they say the same thing consistently about the teacher in question. Less researched I suspect is..." -- Robert N. Leamnson, Prof. Biology, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (posted 1/20, 1:50 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Multiple-choice questionnaires collected during the semester are probably the least effective way of obtaining student evaluations -- the professor's "grades" tend to be..." -- Peter Moretti, Professor, Oklahoma State University (posted 1/19, 3 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Evaluating teaching is one of the hardest things that an administrator has to do. It is probably even harder for peers to review teaching because of..." -- Charles Stroh, chairperson, Dept. of Art, Western Michigan University (posted 1/19, 12 p.m., E.S.T.)

"In a nutshell, this is the way student evaluations of faculty are used: If the administration likes a professor, bad evaluations are overlooked, while good evaluations support..." -- Patsy J. Daniels, Doctoral Candidate, Indiana U of Pennsylvania (posted 1/19, 11:10 a.m., E.S.T.)

"Two interrelated things jumped out at me in your article about student evaluations in the January 16th edition of The Chronicle. First, there is the erroneous assumption made by..." -- Robert Gall, Asst. Professor, Park College (posted 1/19, 9:30 a.m., E.S.T.)

"Nothing is as indicative of the doubts and calls for accountability regarding higher education as faculty attitudes about student opinion surveys and the uses to which they are put. The stances and notions expressed on the..." -- David L. Newquist, Associate Professor Journalism and English, Northern State University (posted 1/16, 5:20 p.m., E.S.T.)

"The use of student evaluations in colleges/universities underscores a real crisis in education: Are colleges/universities really colleges/universities anymore? Academicians everywhere need to ask themselves..." -- G. Price, Assistant Professor, Economics (posted 1/16, 5 p.m., E.S.T.)

"There is currently a debate simmering (it's not quite raging, yet) among health-care providers and evaluators concerning "consumer satisfaction" surveys. At times it seems that..." -- John Myers, Administrator of Planning & Evaluation, Trumbull County Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Board (posted 1/16, 11:30 a.m., E.S.T.)

"While comments and student assessments of style, enthusiasm, or appearance do vary with apparent ease, the long-standing strength of student evaluations has to do with the relationship between the "overall" evaluation score and..." -- Elizabeth Miller, Dean (retired) Kingsborough Community College, CUNY, now higher education consultant (posted 1/16, 10:55 a.m., E.S.T.)

"It is hardly surprising that individuals representing the evaluation industry within academe (both those who produce instruments and correlate the results, and those administrators who use the products to determine promotion and/or tenure) would defend the..." -- David H. Fisher, Ph.D., Chair & Professor of Philosophy (posted 1/16, 10:45 a.m., E.S.T.)

"All faculty should explore varying avenues of soliciting valuable input from students regarding the teaching/learning process. The traditional summative scantron evaluation of a course and its instructor is..." -- Ruby Evans, Professor Statistics, Santa Fe Community College (posted 1/16, 10:35 a.m., E.S.T.)

"The problem with student evaluations is not their correlation with grades or their invalidity or unreliability -- issues that all have been studied exhaustively. The real problem with..." -- Raoul A. Arreola, Director, Educational Evaluation and Development, The University of Tennessee, Memphis (posted 1/15, 2:45 p.m., E.S.T.)

"I share Gerald Gillmore's disappointment with The Chronicle article. When Robin Wilson interviewed me as part of her research on this topic, I was concerned that recent negative views of faculty evaluation and student ratings would receive..." -- Michael Theall, Assoc. Prof & Dir., Ctr. for Teaching & Learning, U. of Ill. at Springfield (posted 1/14, 5:40 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Student evaluations can be abused or useful, but how much should we care? What is the true relevance of student evaluations to a young faculty's life? And how much do tenured people care? Answer to all of the above..." -- Daniel A. Nobbe, President, Researchitecture (posted 1/14, 4:10 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Ugly pants and wide hips are cheap shots. It is disappointing that The Chronicle chose to emphasize anecdotes and research that is little more than anecdotal over the solid research on student ratings that is presented in..." -- Gerald Gillmore, Director of Assessment, University of Washington (posted 1/14, 3:45 p.m., E.S.T.)

"We seem to have lots of studies of the accuracy of student evaluations. These evaluations clearly show some value, and we're getting a sense of where fine-tuning may be useful..." -- Daniel Tompkins, Chair, Dept. of Greek, Hebrew & Roman Classics, Temple University (posted 1/14, 3:30 p.m., E.S.T.)

"While I consider student comments a valuable tool of improving the ways in which I teach, I find it troublesome that some institutions tend to focus solely on..." -- Lutz Kaelber, Assistant Professor of Sociology, LSC (posted 1/14, 10:30 a.m., E.S.T.)

"In reading the latest article in The Chronicle on student evaluation of faculty (SEF) (New Research Casts Doubt on Value of Student Evaluations of Professors, 1/16/98), I was not surprised to find that..." -- Robert E. Haskell, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, University of New England (posted 1/14, 10:10 a.m., E.S.T.)

"Student evaluations can be an important tool in helping faculty understand what..." -- Thomas Ehrlich, senior scholar, Carnegie Foundation (posted 1/14, 10 a.m., E.S.T.)

"I was a bit concerned with the tenor of the discussion as presented the Chronicle. There is no reason for institutions to discontinue student evaluations. Why shouldn't an employer know..." -- Dr. Louis Guinta, Associate Professor, John Jay College (posted 1/13, 4 p.m., E.S.T.)

"For the most part, I do not think that students take evaluations (I'm referring to the institutional evaluation forms) very seriously. I do not think this is solely the fault of students; rather, I believe..." -- Timothy J. Juntilla, English, Cerritos College (posted 1/13, 3:25 p.m., E.S.T.)

"The article emphasized too much the role of grades in getting good evaluations. This role is limited because of peer pressure and the fact that one can't..." -- Wayne Joerding, Professor, Washington State U. (posted 1/13, 3:20 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Just exactly at the right time for our merit evaluations, your article hits the nail on the head for using student evaluations for teaching effectiveness determinations. Although it is supposedly to be used for individual evaluation and improvement, our..." -- Dr. Terri Friel, Associate Professor Eastern Ky University (posted 1/13, 3:10 p.m., E.S.T.)

"I hated the best professor I ever had. If student evaluations had existed in the 1960s, he would have gotten a scorcher out of me. His crime? He asked, no, forced me to consider the possibility that..." -- Toni Levi, College Admissions Consultant (posted 1/13, 3 p.m., E.S.T.)

"I've a rather bizarre story to relate. In 1996 I published a couple of books, one of which won a CHOICE magazine academic book of the year award. I applied for..." -- Arthur Asa Berger, Professor of Broadcast & Electronic Communication Arts, S.F. State (posted 1/13, 2 p.m., E.S.T.)

"I wrote an article on the role of the computer in student evaluations of faculty in..." -- Dr. Joseph S. Fulda, C.S.E., Ph.D. (posted 1/13, 1:50 p.m., E.S.T.)

"This is an important debate/discussion, especially for assistant professors and other non-tenured faculty. Obviously there must be more than talk though. New evidence must be found to..." -- Suzanne M. Marilley, Assistant Professor, Capital U. (posted 1/12, 7:30 p.m., E.S.T.)

"The form of the questions themselves seem to be a real problem; are they managed by the administration, by students, or by the teacher? In any event..." -- Rick McBride, University of Texas at Arlington (posted 1/12, 4:40 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Administrators in my experience are adept at throwing out the high and low scores and the occasional rude comment in student evaluations, using what remains as a..." -- Benjamin S. Pryor, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Toledo (posted 1/12, 4:35 p.m., E.S.T.)

"Student evaluations of university professors are of very limited validity. If, on the evaluation form, the student were simply asked to list their anticipated course grade, an extremely high correlation between..." -- Charles A. Weatherford, professor and Chairman of Physics, Florida A&M University (posted 1/12, 12:35 p.m., E.S.T.)

"The deleterious effects of student evaluations are diverse and affect all professors who aspire to..." -- Al Figone, professor, Humboldt State University (posted 1/12, 12:30 p.m., E.S.T.)

"The consumer is the society rather than the student. The student is the..." -- Kirk Richardson, Professor, Georgia State University (posted 1/12, 12:20 p.m., E.S.T.)

"One issue not addressed so far is: What information obtained from student evaluations is appropriate for..." -- George D. Klein, President, George D. Klein & Associates (posted 1/12, 11:35 a.m., E.S.T.)

"While I support enthusiastically the practice of student evaluations, and consider them seriously when it comes time to review them, I object to anonymous forms. I do not..." -- Richard McKee, adjunct instructor of writing, Ringling School of Art & Design (posted 1/12, 10:50 a.m., E.S.T.)

"The pressure of student teacher evaluations has been in existence for some time and has been the source of a great deal of..." -- Arnie Gerstein, professor (posted 1/12, 10:40 a.m., E.S.T.)