Student evaluations are
important academic tools
By Charla Foster
Staff Writer
While faculty members across the nation have resisted their administration’s increasing use of student evaluations, the university's Office of Academic Affairs requires student ratings to measure overall faculty performance and to provide a basis for promotion.
Jess Overall, an educational research specialist at the university, said that despite the resistance, recent studies at the university indicate student ratings are among the most objective criteria this administration utilizes.
The primary bone of contention involved the use of ratings as a basis for promotion, said Overall, manager of evaluation and personnel at the university’s Office of Institutional Studies.
The 20 to 30 percent of faculty contenders at this university and those across the nation also questioned if students were appropriate evaluators of teaching performance and to what extent the ratings served to improve teaching methods, the manager said.
“Our studies indicated, however, that students were the best judges in assessing how effective teachers are in class. We found that most students gave teachers fair evaluations on the basis that there was little relation between the grade the student expected to get and the evaluation the student gave.”
Overall explained that when the evaluations are processed, the average results are considered to be the most accurate indication of teaching performance.
The studies also indicated that when evaluations
were used for feedback purposes, teaching performance improved because most faculty members were eager to discuss and analyze the results with other members of the faculty.
The evaluations, given at the end of each term, ask students to rate the instructors in terms of knowledge gained in the course, assignments and examinations, the instructor’s enthusiasm, organization and attitude toward students, and subject interest gained by taking the course.
“The only variable that became significant, in terms of affecting the student’s evaluation of a particular instructor, was the student’s prior interest in the subject,” Overall explained.
"The point is that even this variable had little influence over the average ratings, and we haven’t found any variable that people could argue against, in a statistical or practical sense, in terms of significantly changing the average results.”
Overall added that, although he considers the evaluations an organizational service for the university, the rating results are used individually by the departments.
The Office of Academic Affairs, however, stipulates that each department submit student evaluations along with dossiers when instructors are under promotional consideration.
Likewise, many of the university's department heads consider the student evaluations important indicators of faculty performance and overall depart-
ment status.
Luther Leudtke, acting journalism director, explained how evaluations are used by the journalism school: “Student evaluations are not only important, but of great use and aid to the faculty within the school.”
Both full-time, 10-year track instructors and the part-time professional faculty in the school are subject to the student evaluations that department heads carefully observe, Luedtke said.
"Student evaluation is also part of the promotional process within the school, and we not only appreciate letters from individual students about faculty, but even solicit them.”
Luedtke said that in the School of Journalism, evaluations are used in a positive manner to improve faculty performance, rather than to make negative judgements about the instructors.
Although the department heads consider other elements of teaching competence, such as community involvement, individual research and colleague evaluation, the director said teachers who have more than two consecutive poor evaluations and a low interest in improvement are discontinued by the department.
“This is one way of weeding out non-performers by the time they reach their 10-year review, when salaries are often negotiated and teachers are considered for a lifetime commitment with the university,” Luedtke explained.
Note-taking service eases study burden
By Mary Ann Meek
Staff Writer
Thanks to two enterprising University of California at Los Angeles graduates, students here are able to buy lecture notes for several of the university’s general education classes.
This fall, for the fourth consecutive year, Janice Galletly and Kim Siehl are offering students the opportunity to benefit from the Educational Enrichment Enterprises note-taking service.
Galletly explained that the note-taking service was a tradition at UCLA, and said she could not believe someone here had not thought of the idea.
“1 know it (the service) helped me when I was at UCLA, so I thought it would be a great thing for USC as well,” she said.
After receiving operational advice from UCLA’s lecture note director, Galletly and Siehl approached the deans of this university in order to discover any possible legal problems associated with such an undertaking.
“No one really knew what the service was,” Galletly said, “so they couldn’t say no.”
After receiving university approval, the graduates went to Tam’s Bookstore, where they were able to rent space for their headquarters. With this accomplished, Galletly and Siehl then had to decide which courses should be involved in the service.
“We sent letters and contracts to all the professors teaching classes with more than 100 students,” Siehl said.
nr
The contracts are necessary as professors own the copyrights to their lectures.
She explained that it is not profitable to offer the note service to small classes. “Besides,” Siehl said, “in small classes the notes are unnecessary because of the better teacher/student interaction.”
Galletly said most of the professors who have participated in the service have been very pleased, adding that each teacher receives a bound copy of the notes at the end of the semester. She said there has been some negative reaction, especially from teachers who publish their own class notes.
When the service first started. Galletly said, six or seven classes were involved. This semester, notes from 10 classes are being offered.
“When it comes to deciding who will take the notes,” Siehl explained, “we ask the professors for suggestions.” If there is no preference, teaching assistants are considered, and advertisements are placed in the paper.
Siehl said they prefer to use graduate students who are well-acquainted with the courses offered in the note-taking service. She explained that the paid note takers turn in the notes by Friday each week, and students can pick up a copy every Tuesday after 11 a.m.
This semester, the service is offering notes for the following courses: Anthropology 201; Astronomy 100; Biology 102, 210, and 215; Economics 250 and 251; Geology 240; Psychology lOOg; and Sociology 250.
dM
trojan
Volume XCI Number 18 University of Southern California	Friday, September 25, 1981
Student kayaks, protests Diablo
Penetrates security zone at sea
get arrested,” Carson said.
The two men phoned the Abalone Alliance Group at San Luis Obispo last Thursday morning and were informed that the group had an occupation on the beach about four miles south of the plant. The Coast Guard had a safety/security zone surrounding the plant four miles north and south along the beach and two miles out to sea. No unauthorized craft was allowed in the area as a prevention against a sea blockade that the alliance wras putting together.
The formation of a sea blockade posed a threat because of the penalties involved. Rather than being a simple matter of trespassing, for which a $120 fine or four days in custody is levied, breaking the Coast Guard safety zone was labeled as a federal offense, punishable by a $50,000 fine or 10 years in prison.
“Bob and I were friends through our kayaking through rivers in the Sierras, so we thought we might be able to have a little adventure for ourselves in addition to making our protest,” Carson said. Their original plan was to kayak out of Port San Luis north to the Diablo plant, breaking the security zone and proving the inefficiency of the enforcement in guarding the plant.
Deciding to proceed with their plan, Carson and Landry arrived first at the alliance’s information center in San Luis Obispo Friday morning. There, they were registered and given instructions on how to reach the actual protesters’ encampment.
(Continued on page 10)
By Angie Fernandez
Staff Writer
Most people would not associate the idea of kayaking with the present issue of protesting nuclear activity at the Diablo Canyon plant. However, Doug Carson, a senior majoring in architecture. found it to be the perfect way in which to combine one of his favorite sports with his opposition to nuclear power.
It all started when Carson was contacted by a friend. Bob
Landry, a sound and light technician, who asked him, “Do you want to get arrested?”
Intrigued by the question, Carson agreed to investigate the possibility of joining the Abalone Alliance Group encampment located near the Diablo Canyon nuclear facility.
“Philosophically, I’ve always been opposed to nuclear energy systems, and this was a chance to do something that was organized. I had classes and I really couldn’t afford to
Staff photo by Rob Potter GIVE ME A BREAK! - Student Dave Kern displays true perserver-ance, managing to pedal to classes with use of only one good leg.