Student feedback just isn't enough

After a week of filling in bubbles of teacher-evaluation forms, some students are finding that rating professors on a scale of one to four just doesn't cut it.

The Center for Teaching and Learning - a University-run team of officials that helps professors improve their teaching - is currently working with student-government groups to enhance the feedback that instructors receive at the end of every semester.

The CTL has put together a group of 10 students from all four undergraduate schools that will meet once a semester with CTL Director Bruce Lenthall to discuss students' likes and dislikes about courses, Lenthall said.

After these meetings, Lenthall will relay feedback to the appropriate faculty members.

The group's student members - who, as of now, need to be active in student government - will be selected at the beginning of next semester.

Lenthall said that such an undergraduate board will generate important responses not available from the current student-evaluation forms.

"The evaluation forms are a measure of certain kinds of things. They tend not to be tremendously detailed and are largely a thumbs-up or thumbs down," he said.

With the new group, Lenthall added, he hopes to see a "more qualitative, not quantitative, evaluation" of courses and instructors.

A wide range of issues will be discussed at the group's first meeting - which is taking place today and which will be attended by students interested in participating - said College senior Erin Cho, chairwoman of the Undergraduate Assembly's Education Committee.

"We want to get a sense of what lecture styles make it easier for students to grasp information, whether it is better for teachers to post their notes beforehand, whether students prefer many exams or one all-encompassing exam, " Cho said.

College sophomore and Education Committee member Jay Patel is attending today's meeting and said he is ready to raise some TA-related issues to the group.

"There should be some kind of accountability for TAs. . Two people signing up for the same class shouldn't be judged by different standards because of different TAs," he said.

Cho added that, once the group is up and running, she hopes other students who are not active in student government will become involved in this initiative by e-mailing questions and concerns about their classes and professors.

Meanwhile, professors are eager to hear what these students will say once presented with this new method of feedback.

Astronomy professor Mariangela Bernardi said this group has the potential to offer more helpful feedback than the evaluation forms do.

History professor Michael Zuckerman likewise pointed out that the new board will likely provide "intense" and valuable feedback for professors.

"In my classes, probably a third write comments, and mostly the comments are just that they loved the class or that they hated it," he said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.