The Educational Policy Committee (EPC) at an April 14 Arts, Sciences and Engineering (AS&E) Faculty meeting presented a resolution addressing changes to the course evaluation system, which was eventually tabled due to unresolved debate about some of its provisions.
The resolution, which was passed on March 9 by EPC, called the current course evaluation system obsolete and asked for an online system that maintained student anonymity.
The move to an online course evaluation system has been in discussion for some time. The administration has begun the process of moving course evaluations online in an effort to encourage more thoughtful student involvement and to simplify the current process, in which handwritten evaluations must go through a computer scan and also be transcribed.
"There is some potential for that to provide better input for students than what we're presently getting," Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser said.
While there appears to be a general consensus on the benefits of moving to an online system, sophomore Nunu Luo, previous chair of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate's Education Committee, said debate exists over whether the course evaluations should be made public for use by students.
According to Luo, faculty discussed three possible options for making course evaluations available to students: making them available online with an opt-out policy for professors who choose to exercise it, having an opt-out policy for entire departments and, finally, putting all course evaluations online with no opt-out policy.
It was disagreement over the opt-out policy that contributed in part to the tabling of the resolution, according to Luo.
"The reason it was tabled was because there was not enough conversation to make an accurate decision on it," Luo said.
The EPC resolution proposed allowing for both department and individual opt-outs, although it also acknowledged that there existed differing views on the committee itself.
Representing the views of the Senate — which on March 7 unanimously passed its own resolution opposing a faculty opt-out option — Luo and freshman Alice Pang presented to the faculty at the meeting.
"A no-opt policy in the new course evaluation system shows the students and the community that every single course evaluation is going to have an impact and has value in advancing the educational standard at Tufts," Pang and Luo told the faculty. "This will empower students, showing them that their ideas and thoughts matter to the faculty."
Glaser noted that he is not in favor of an individual opt-out policy, although he believes the faculty's eventual decision on the matter should be respected. Glaser added that he understands the desire for the option of a departmental opt-out.
"I actually think that the departmental opt out is okay. [The] English department has long objected to quantitative process; this is a philosophical stand, and I respect that," Glaser said.
Luo believes that making course evaluations available online would have significant benefits for students' academic lives.
"[Students] don't take them seriously," Luo said. "We want to put them online because if you are able to go online and see that this course by this teacher is rated this for enthusiasm, this for presentation, you will have a better idea of the course. Students will be able to go to a much more legitimate source to see course reviews."
While the debate on the matter remains open, no final decision will be made until the fall, as the EPC resolution was presented at the last faculty meeting of the semester, according to Luo.
Glaser noted that regardless of the final decision, two groups of faculty will not be subject to having evaluations of their courses being posted publicly; namely, new teachers and graduate students.
"It takes a couple of years to get courses running fully, and it's not right to expose the faculty who are teaching these courses to the pressure of having their evaluations posted online," Glaser said.
The push to move course evaluations online was initiated in the fall by incoming TCU President Sam Wallis, who was then sitting on the EPC, according to Luo. It led to the passage of a Senate resolution in December supporting moving course evaluations online.
Luo and Pang took over the project this semester and sat on EPC, providing student input on the project.
Ellen Kan contributed reporting to this article.
