This semester, student evaluations of professors are hitting the ’net.

Previously, students had to be in the classroom to fill out the evaluation forms, while the professor waited outside. Now, the professor doesn’t even have to be in the same part of town.

These evaluations originally were given in a Scantron-type manner, where students filled in bubbles to make their various evaluations of the professor with any additional comments listed at the bottom.

Recently, however, Dr. Lei Wang, director of Institutional Effectiveness, designed a new online professor evaluation.

“They will be more comprehensive than their former paper counterparts and have more space to add comments,” said Wang.

One of the biggest problems with the paper evaluations, according to Wang, was going back to re-bubble half the evaluations. This work was done by work-study employees, which added an unnecessary expense.

With the hard-copy format, the turnaround results would take months to compile, and, if any immediate change was needed, it would not be addressed until the following semester. The new turnaround will be in just a few short weeks.

One of the immediate objections to the online evaluations, according to Wang, is how to get some students to fill them out.

“It is up to the professor to get the students to fill out the evaluations,” Wang said.
Two possible solutions to this problem would be to have students use the campus computer labs or have the portable laptops brought into the classroom.

Wang stressed that the results of these evaluations are important as this is where the student body can voice concern about a certain professor.

“It’s important that the students be heard. We want students to be honest,” she said.

The online evaluations already have been tested at the campus in Houston with success. Out of two classes, the results were 100 percent in one class and 75 percent in the other.