Every quarter students at Ohio State fill out the same Student Evaluation of Instruction form at the end of each quarter. It is a tool the university relies on to evaluate the instructors, but some students question the usefulness of the forms.
State law requires all instructors to be evaluated by their students every quarter, said Richard Gunther, professor of political science who was involved with the creation of the modern SEI form 18 years ago.
“We have concluded that it is a very good instrument for assessing student satisfaction with the performance of their instructors,” he said.
Some students wonder whether or not the SEI forms are useful, and others think the questions are repetitive.
Jordan Martin, a junior in classics, said she takes the SEI forms seriously when filling them out, but does not think the questions go into enough depth to be able to accurately rate an instructor.
“I always read the questions and fill them out, but really, I doubt it makes a whole lot of difference for them (the instructors),” she said.
Ben Fultz, a sophomore in history, also said he does not think the SEI forms make a big difference to instructors. However, he said, it is probably difficult to come up with a universal form, so it is probably the best the university could come up with.
Fultz said the form should include questions that matter more to students such as, “does the teacher make you interested in the class, or is the teacher boring?”
Faculty and administration at OSU take the SEI and other instructor evaluation forms very seriously, Gunther said. These forms, either in paper or electronic form, combined with other factors are used when making promotions and tenure decisions for faculty members.
He also said while the SEI data is important, it should not be the only tool used to evaluate teaching skills.
“SEI data … must be supplemented, at a minimum, by such things as peer evaluation of the syllabus and the extent of knowledge of the field by the faculty member, and the extent to which the syllabus is up to date,” Gunther said. “So, (the) SEI is very important, but it should never be regarded as the sole measure of the performance by an instructor.”
Matt Misicka, director of the Center of Life Sciences Education – teaches all the introductory biology courses at OSU – also said his department takes the SEI forms seriously.
“We read every last comment … (and) look for trends and patterns,” he said.
He also said he has talked to faculty members who have received poor SEI ratings in certain categories, who have then turned around the next quarter and made the necessary changes in their teaching style.
Heather Miner, a sophomore in industrial engineering, said she thinks the SEI forms should have more room for individual opinions.
“They’re (the SEI forms) kind of dumb,” she said. “They just ask the same questions over and over.”
She said she thinks it should include more personal questions such as, “how has this teacher or teaching style affected you personally?”
Gunther said there is sometimes talk of adding additional questions to the SEI forms, but there are currently no concrete plans for doing so.
Lindsay Betz can be reached at [email protected].
