But the SOS forms, which have been at Central Michigan University for 40 years, are used by many different faculty members to change the way they run their classes.

“As a faculty member, I used the responses to reflect on the areas where I could enhance my own teaching and the learning processes for future classes,” said Pamela Gates, interim dean of the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences. “As an administrator, I look for areas of strength and any areas of concern that may need to be addressed.”

Orlando Perez, chairman of the department of political science, said faculty do look at what students write.

“If a large percentage of students complain about a particular textbook or assignment, faculty will normally change them,” Perez said.

The forms are collected by Academic Administration and processed through the Office of Institutional Research.

“I review each packet for every faculty member, and correct any problems. After grades are posted the faculty may see their own. After all of them are processed, they are open for the departments to view,” said Marianne McJames, administrative secretary of the Office of Institutional Research.

Professors are not allowed to see their results until they have posted grades so their scores do not affect their grading, McJames said.

Privacy

The student’s privacy when filling out SOS forms is very important, which is why professors are asked to leave the room when they are being filled out, Gates said.

Students are encouraged to fill out each form honestly and to not answer based on their personal feelings toward a professor or soley on what grade their expecting, Perez said.

He said students generally give better grades to professors whose class they did well in.

“The question is, are grades a valid reflection of the faculty’s teaching effectiveness?” Perez said. “I think grades are one way of measuring how effective a faculty is, but grades are basically a reflection of the student’s ability and effort.”

SOS forms can give a different look at a class based on different variables as well.

“SOS scores do tell us how the students feel about the instructor and the class, but that may not always be the same thing as whether the instructor did a good job. For example, SOS scores tend to be lower in required courses, harder courses and courses about material that students find less entertaining,” said Philosophy and Religion Chairman Robert Noggle.

Students dislike

When filling out the forms, being as objective as possible is important, said Howell sophomore Cassie Burgess.

“I try to be objective when I fill them out, I may not like a teacher, but if they did a good job, I’ll say so. It just depends on if students have a bad attitude about the class,” Burgess said. “There are some professors that I really like to compliment in the SOS forms, so I like them.”

Some students, such as St. Clare Shores graduate student Garrett Tanner, believe the evaluations are unfair.

“I don’t really like the SOS forms very much. If (a student) is doing really poorly, they may give a professor a bad review or, if they do well, they’ll give them a good review,” Tanner said. “A professor might have a really bad teaching style, but the student knew the material, and gave the professor a good review.”