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Moving SOS forms online makes for more communication between students and faculty

By Editorial Board on February 3, 2010 1:00 am in Editorial / 2 comments

 

Central Michigan University is widening the pathways of communication with students by allowing Student Opinion Surveys to go online.
This will allow students to get a feel for what their professors are like before they enroll in classes, and what they can expect from each professor.

The Academic Senate, which approved the motion 26-19 Tuesday, has made a great choice in building trust with students.
Students take the surveys at the end of each semester, rating their instructor and offering suggestions on how to make the course better.

Some faculty argue that putting these surveys online will allow students to “shop around” for the easiest professors, signing up for classes that are “an easy A.” It was the same argument used against putting grade distribution data online last fall.
But the surveys are not simply an extension of grade distributions; they focus more on how well the professor presents their material. It’s an evaluation of what the professor did that worked for students and what can be improved.

Shopping around for the easiest classes is not the main goal of most students on campus, and they need to be given more credit in that regard. They pay upwards of $15,000 per year to come to CMU. The majority think beyond a 4.0.
Students, in general, know it’s the skills learned in class and university activities that will help them secure a career, not the perfect grades. The surveys are another tool for students to figure out which professors will give them the classroom experience they need to succeed.

The surveys reveal more than which professor is easy and which one is a nightmare. Every professor has a different teaching style, and every student learns in a different manner. A student better at taking tests probably won’t find much success in a class that consists of mostly essays. SOS forms help students register with professors that can match their learning style.

Tuition prices are at an all-time high and probably won’t be cheaper in the academic years to come. Now more than ever, students have to be smart with their money and ensure they are getting the most beneficial education.
There’s nothing more frustrating to a student than signing up with a professor they can’t learn anything from.

However, putting the surveys online is a two-way street. Students have to be responsible and take the forms seriously. SOS forms will hold more weight since everyone can see them. What you write down will affect another student in various ways, from choosing certain classes to signing a major.

The university should take notice and strive for transparency campus-wide. From the medical school to the presidential search, university officials have left students and faculty with questions. Hopefully officials will take strides and build a foundation of trust with the CMU community.

This is a trend that should continue in the academic years to come.

 

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  • cmuperson

    “The surveys reveal more than which professor is easy and which one is a nightmare. Every professor has a different teaching style, and every student learns in a different manner. A student better at taking tests probably won’t find much success in a class that consists of mostly essays. SOS forms help students register with professors that can match their learning style.”

    Has the editorialist actually completed an SOS form? They don’t have ANYTHING about teaching style, amount of writing required, or anything else of that sort. All they have are general questions about whether the prof as accessible, clear, organized, respectful of students, etc. That may be useful information to some students, but it is way different from information about whether it’s mainly a lecture class or whether there’s a lot of writing. It’s hard to take seriously the opinions of someone so poorly informed about what he or she is talking about.

  • mossdale

    I agree. The editorialist doesn’t understand what is asked about on the SOS. Frankly, the SOS is very general…it does not go into teaching style, “fairness” of grading or any such thing. So, I fail to see how looking at professor’s SOS scores will help students find professors whose teaching styles match their learning styles.

    As a professor here at CMU, getting a “low” score on class organization (for example) tells me nothing about how I might improve my class on that front. All I see is a number; there is no detail about what I’m doing wrong that caused students to think the course was disorganized. So, the SOS, contrary to what the editorialist writes, does nothing to help me out.

    It has been my experience as a teacher here at CMU that many students do not, in reality, think beyond the 4.0 on this campus. Please! Use the SOS and class GPAs to look for easy classes. That will weed you out of my class, at any rate, which is something I’ll be thankful for.