By Lynelle Ward
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

The School of Human Sciences and Humanities recently instituted a pilot program for new course-instructor evaluation forms.

The evaluations are a part of the faculty evaluation process, therefore, each school has a separate budget for the costs of assessment.

"Evaluations go to computing services and scantrons get scanned in and a report with all the results and averages are given to the associate dean for faculty evaluations," said Charlette Estevanes, secretary in the office of the School of Education.

A search for a new evaluation form for HSH started as a result of a task force recommendation. The task force was established because of faculty concerns about the validity of the current evaluation forms.

"There was some desire to see how well we were doing relative to other instructors in the country."

Sharon Hall, professor of behavioral sciences, and Kevin McNamara, professor of literature and American studies, developed a task force that researched options for new evaluation forms. After consideration, they decided not to develop the form internally because developing a questionnaire would need statistical data that would be very time consuming.

Hall and McNamara recommended that HSH use the University of Washington Office of Educational Assessment's evaluation program. This program offers 10 different forms that had questions specific to the type of class given. The School of Business implemented a similar program from Kansas State University called IDEA.

"[The new evaluation forms] seem more focused on teaching and less on popularity, said Chloe Diepenbrock, assistant professor of writing. "The old forms tend to ask questions that can be interpreted as, did you like this professor, and that does not always mean the professor is a good professor. You can like a professor and not learn anything; you can hate a professor and learn a lot. I think it's best to ask questions that focus on what was learned and how the course is set up."

The program administrators developed evaluation forms that have been scientifically tested for valid results and consistent reliability. The evaluation forms are evaluated at the University of Washington and results are tabulated and sent back to UH-Clear Lake.

"We liked that the University of Washington evaluation forms emphasized learning rather than teaching styles," McNamara said.

Instituting the program is not without reservations. During the Oct. 9 faculty meeting, it was motioned to end the pilot program, which was used throughout the summer, and move directly to using the new form. The motion failed in a 23 to 20 vote.

"I didn't want to do it without a trial run," Diepenbrock said. "I think it's important to make sure we are doing the right thing."

"Any change is stressful to faculty," Snooks said. "In addition to that, a change that affects our self esteem-and student evaluations affect our self esteem-also affects our pocket book because your raise, if you get a raise, is based partially on student evaluations. We all do annual reports and on annual reports we are evaluated on teaching, we are evaluated on research and we are evaluated on service. A part of the teaching component is what students say, so it affects our income and our self esteem."

McNamara said the cost of the program is paid by the department's budget, but the costs are well within the budget.

All educational programs at UH-Clear Lake use student classroom evaluations to improve instructional quality. Students will be asked to complete both evaluation forms during the pilot program.

"I think if we explain to [students] what we are doing, that they are filling out two forms because we are trying out new ones and we need their input, I trust our students will do a good job knowing it means something to us," Diepenbrock said.

The pilot program for the School of Human Sciences and Humanities will continue until the results from the 2003 spring semester are received from the University of Washington; at that time, the faculty will vote whether or not to keep the new system.

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