Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Friday, March 29, 2024 — Houston, TX

New evaluation system to debut for courses, instructors

big_class_col_jiayi_lyu

By Yves Ye     9/27/16 11:28pm

A range of classes will pilot a new course and instructor evaluation system this year focusing more on skills and student progress.

The Committee on Teaching recommended the system, named IDEA, after investigating platforms for evaluation from 2014-15, according to Associate Vice Provost Arnaud Chevallier.

IDEA will run alongside the current Course and Instructor Evaluation system, in which students rate courses and instructors on a scale from poor to outstanding on categories such as organization and workload. According to Lisa Balabanlilar, the chair of the Rice Committee on Teaching, this will allow a clear comparison of the relative strengths of the two systems, and make the current system more useful for professors.



“Our current system asks the same relatively simple questions about every class, without producing useful data that can help us become more effective teachers,” Balabanlilar said.

Rice’s website on IDEA states students will provide information on how they have improved knowledge and skills, faculty will identify which skills and knowledge are most crucial to their courses and data on student progress and teaching behaviors will be paired to provide diagnostics. IDEA will be administered through CampusLabs, which will allow faculty to collect feedback throughout the semester and design course-specific questions.

About 200 courses taught by 150 instructors, which constitute 15 percent of the courses offered and instructors teaching, will pilot the platform.

Scott Solomon, a professor of biosciences and member of the 2014-15 Subcommittee on Course and Instructor Evaluations, said the platform is benficial for all stakeholders.

“Students can get more relevant information, particularly the questions they want answered,” Solomon said. “For faculty who want feedbacks on their teachings, they will receive responses in great details that are specific to course objectives. And administrators will have more detailed information on what students get out of particular courses and academic programs.”

All three communities have raised concerns about Rice’s current evaluation system, which was first created in the 1930s but had never been formally validated, Chevallier said.

An overwhelming majority of the Committe on Teaching and Faculty Senate approved the platform. The platform website states it has been implemented at multiple other universities with research suppoprting its effectiveness.

Balabanlilar said further research comparing the two systems will take place this semester.

“I hope everyone can keep an open mind and give this new system a try,” Balabanlilar said. “It will give us much better insight into the teaching process at Rice, and what we might do to improve teaching and enhance the academic experience for the entire campus community.”

Constantine Tzouanas, the Student Association director of external affairs, said many on-campus groups have contributed to the pilot.

“IDEA will more directly link student course evaluations to meaningful feedback for professors and insight for the process of selecting courses,” Tzouanas, a Weiss College sophomore, said.

Tzouanas said IDEA would play a significant role in enabling students to contribute to Rice’s quality of undergraduate education.

“Rice is a special place for the time and effort it has put into ensuring that students have an engaged presence in the classroom via the IDEA pilot,” Tzouanas said. “We will have a powerful tool to voice needs and contribute to meaningful progress in teaching undergraduates.”

With regard to possible concerns from instructors, Chevallier said the result of the initiative will not play a role in faculty tenure and promotion decisions in the short term.

“If Rice adopts IDEA, the current system will be replaced,” he said. “[Then] IDEA [results] will be considered because it will yield higher validity in reflecting teaching quality, a fundamental component of promotion decisions.”



More from The Rice Thresher

NEWS 3/28/24 4:11pm
7.5% acceptance rate marks lowest in Rice history

Rice admitted 2,439 students from 32,459 applicants March 26, according to Vice President for Enrollment Yvonne Romero da Silva. With a 7.5% admit rate, this is the third consecutive year of record-low acceptance rates. The Thresher previously reported 7.7% and 8.56% acceptance rates for the Class and 2027 and 2026 respectively.

NEWS 3/26/24 11:39pm
Public parties to resume, Martel sundeck off-limits for morning party

Campus-wide public parties will resume in time for Beer Bike and Brown College’s Bacchanalia, Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman announced in an email to students March 22. The sundeck will permanently be off-limits for Martel College’s morning party, and colleges will not be allowed to reschedule or host additional public parties this semester. 


Comments

Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.