Don --

We are currently conducting a comprehensive re-evaluation of our "Student
Evaluation of Teaching Form," as well as both formative an summative
evaluations of faculty.  This will include peer evaluation of teaching.  I
am on the Teaching Evaluation Committee and have loads of materials from our
discussions.  I am willing to share what I have with you.

At this point, we are not considering the demographics you mention.  We are
discussing the possibility of including questions concerning whether the
student is a Freshman, Sophomore, etc., whether the course is required, and
the student's overall grade point average.

Feel free to give me a call and I'll provide more specifics of what we have
been considering.

Susan

> Susan J. Marsnik
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Legal Studies in Business
> University of St. Thomas
> MCN 6024  2115 Summit Avenue
> St. Paul, MN  55105-1096
> [log in to unmask]
        651-962-5116
>
>


-----Original Message-----
From: Don Mayer [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 7:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Student Evaluations - Demographic Data


We are (finally) re-evaluating our form for student evaluation of faculty
teaching.  A couple of questions:

1.    Are you at a school where the faculty is generally pleased with the
form that is in use? If so,

2.    What kinds of "demographic" questions has your school found useful?
E.g., does it provide you with useful data to ask about (a) gender, (b) age,
(c) race or ethnicity, (d) other?  And has it been statistically useful to
ask about grade point average, whether the course is required, and what the
student's grade expectations are?

3.    Has there been a deliberate effort to increase the amount and quality
of student comments on evaluation forms (and has it worked)?  (We've noticed
here that the comments have been declining in number and length in the past
ten years.)

I would also like to hear from anyone whose institution consistently uses
other means of evaluating teaching effectiveness in a way that the faculty
finds satisfactory.

Please respond to ALSB talk or send an email to me at [log in to unmask]  I
will share all responses.  Many thanks.

Don Mayer
Oakland University