Collegiate Times

Weeks before nervously shading in the bubbles on final examination opscans, Tech students complete opscans with a different aim ? course evaluations. With these opscans, professors are the people with the anxiety.

As explained in the ?Promotion and Tenure Guidelines, 2005-2006,? the University Promotion and Tenure Committee consider a variety of factors when considering appointments, including student evaluations of the instructor.

According to the guidelines, ?a number of measures to demonstrate the quality of teaching and advising are available (including): student, peer and alumni evaluations ? the long term effect of a faculty member on the personal and professional success of students, and student achievements.?

A branch of Learning Technologies, Test Scoring Services provide colleges and departments with three evaluation form options: the Standard Blue Student Perceptions of Instruction Opscan, the Green Opscans or the Red Class Header Opscan.

Most Tech students fill in the circles of an SPOI Opscan, which contains 15 preprinted questions with the option for additional class- or instructor- specific questions. Blank space also exists as a location for written comments.

?I?ve definitely filled out quite a few scantrons during my time at Tech,? said Katie Boyle senior biology major. ?I would have to say that in most of my classes, I?ve filled out a blue scantron.?

Boyle also explained that on more than one occasion she?s written detailed comments in the blank spaces on certain evaluations.

?I usually write out comments for the professors I think are really good or really bad teachers,? she said.

Ironically, while the promotion guidelines allow and encourage student input from non-credit courses and other outreach programs, student evaluations ?do not include student comments from teaching evaluations.?

Green Opscans also allot space for written comments. Used by the College of Business, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, these evaluations ask questions created specifically by the college.

?To the best of my knowledge, we have been using the same form in the college of business for the 29 years I have been here ? I understand that the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Architecture and Urban Studies also have their own forms,? said Richard Wokutch department of management head and Pamplin professor.

For four years Caroline Hill, senior finance major, evaluated her professors on both Green Opscans and SPOI Opscans, without noticing much disparity.

?I can?t really remember any glaring differences between my business course evaluations and my elective course evaluations,? she said.

Wokutch agreed that only minimal alterations appear on Pamplin?s questionnaires.

?In looking over the form used in the remainder of colleges, the questions appear to be quite similar to those we use on our form,? he said.

The final scantron option from Test Scoring Services addresses quantative course issues, asking for instructor name, course number, course abbreviation and reference number.

In an attempt to gather more professor evaluation information, several departments institute a supplementary evaluation form not associated with the Test Scoring Services opscans.

?The department specific evaluation form (for the history department) was already in use when I started here in 1981,? said Daniel Thorp history chair.

The history evaluation form consists of several Likert Scale and open-ended questions, addressing a range of issues including both the professor?s and textbooks strengths and weaknesses.

A professor?s strengths and weaknesses as determined by statistical data is something the Promotion and Tenure Committee takes into consideration when discussing appointments. But with all the other considerations, student evaluations only serve as a small sliver of the tenure process.