Due to recent studies that show some questions on the end-of-semester student evaluation forms may be more biased than constructive, a new format is in progress. 

The current student evaluation system uses around 40,000 pieces of paper a year, said Lisa Goering, associate professor of biological sciences. The new design would make evaluations entirely online, allowing students to submit an evaluation even if they weren’t able to attend class the day of. 

By having more accessibility, any student with a laptop or smartphone as well as any class with computers, would eliminate the outdated process of filling out a form and having a typist record the results, a system which forces professors to be withheld of the results until nearly two semesters after the evaluations are submitted.

The goal is not only to move towards a more sustainable alternative, but one that would yield faster responses so professors didn’t have to wait a year before making necessary changes to their courses.

Another drawback to the current evaluation process is the lack of inclusivity in the questions themselves.

“Asking whether or not a course challenged a student to think differently is very vague,” Goering said.

Just as counterproductive are comments regarding a professor’s attire. 

“Someone once criticized in their evaluation the fact that I once wore one blue shoe and one black shoe to class,” Kathleen Wilburn, professor of business management said.

Evaluations are a significant part of how a professor’s teaching effectiveness is rated, according to Wilburn, and most if not all the faculty and staff want students to understand the power these evaluations hold.

The new evaluation system would include a question asking whether or not a student is taking the course as an elective or as a requirement for their major. The hope is to have less room for bias in the questions, and whether or not a student is taking a course by choice or not may affect how much they got out of it. 

The more helpful the questions are, the more useful the answers provided are. 

This way, the process avoids any “ad-hominem elements the current system allows,” Jack Musselman, associate professor of philosophy said. “It’s a difficult and complex process, but it’s worth it.” 

The new design was presented to the Faculty Senate on April 1.

 Although it still requires a few tweaks, it could be piloted for a few select classes for the Fall 2016 Semester and implemented campus-wide by the Fall 2017 Semester at the latest.