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Re: Student Evaluations of Instructors



On Thu, 5 Jul 2001, Dean DeBolt wrote:

> Among the ten state universities in Florida, there developed a
> form for the evaluation of instructors ... it is called SUSAI for
> State University System Student Assessment of Instruction.
> In talking to our Records Manager, Gus Harris, it appears that
> the record copy for each instructor/class is kept in the Department,
> probably in the personnel files.
>
> What our university did, however, was provide copies (whole
> books in alphabetical order by instructor for each semester) to
> the Library for placement on reserve because of the clamor in
> the late 1990s from the public about identifying "rotten" faculty.
>
> While the information on these forms is limited and general, I
> have known archives to preserve these (perhaps indefinitely)
> as a source of information to others who want to see how a
> particular instructor is viewed by previous students or what
> kind of overall teaching record the faculty member has.
>
> I would be interested in hearing from other archives who have
> a similar type of record and whether you keep it or if you keep
> only a certain range of years.

For many years, undergraduates at Johns Hopkins compiled their own
ratings for instructors, based on questionnaires distributed to
students in the classes, which they published each semester.  They
were a full-fledged student group, which means they received money
from the university.  One of the problems students encountered is that
not every class was surveyed, and the reviews published were often
several years old.  Nevertheless, quite a few students planning their
schedules would come in and use these "Course Guides."  Since it was a
student publication, we collected them and made them available like
any other student publication.

Their efforts came to an abrupt halt when one or two students wrote an
uncomplimentary review of a faculty member that he considered
libelous.  This faculty member apparently threatened legal action and
the students folded up rather than try to defend themselves.  It came
back under another name for a couple of years but I haven't seen
anything like it for some time.  Now, of course, the ratings are too
out-of-date to be useful for schedule planning, but we keep them as we
try to keep all student publications.  As historical artifacts, they
would be interesting.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

James Stimpert                       ** PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING:
Archives (Arts and Sciences)         E-mail:    stimpert@jhu.edu
MSE Library
Johns Hopkins University             Voice:     (410) 516-8323
3400 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD  21218                 Fax:       (410) 516-7202

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