As students choose their classes during Drop/Add period, many will still have to do so without one potential source of information: their peers’ course evaluations.
By a margin of only a single vote, faculty at the Dec. 9 meeting of the Arts and Sciences Council decided not to alter the current course evaluations policy, under which summaries of data from student evaluations do not appear on ACES Web unless professors actively choose otherwise.
A suggestion from members of Duke Student Government that they might create a website linking to unofficial professor reviews on the national database www.ratemyprofessors.com prompted a reconsideration of the opt-in policy. Under the current system, which began with the 2001 introduction of machine-readable evaluation forms, students can access course evaluation data only through ACES and only if the professor of a course specifically permits them to do so. If a professor takes no action, the information never becomes available to students.
Following an explanation of the current system’s evolution by Robert Thompson, dean of Trinity College, council members discussed two resolutions. One resolution proposed changing the current opt-in policy into an opt-out policy under which evaluations would appear on ACES unless a professor actively objected. The other mandated that the method by which professors make their preferences about evaluation data known be simplified and made more secure.
Years ago, binders full of course evaluation forms were available for students to peruse. In contrast, less than 10 percent of course evaluation data is now on ACES, said Thompson, who first asked the council to rethink the policy. He asked council members to be mindful of the traditional cooperation between students and faculty on the issue.
“This has been a collaboration and a partnership with students throughout this process,” Thompson said. He added that DSG’s current proposal, which surprised and upset many council members, “doesn’t capture the spirit of collaboration.”
Ian Baucom, associate professor of English, opened the fiery debate about the possible shift to an opt-out policy. “I’m opposed to this resolution,” he said. A few years ago, when the council last considered the policy, faculty opposition was strong, he explained. “I haven’t had a sense that there has been a significant change of feelings, certainly in the people I’ve spoken with.”
Some other council members seemed to share Baucom’s sentiments. “At least in my department, a real educational job needs to be done with individual members of the faculty” before they would be prepared to accept an opt-out policy, said Harry Davidson, professor of the practice of music. “They just aren’t informed enough.”
Thompson pointed out the failings of the current system, noting that the main reason so little data is on ACES is that 87 percent of professors do not respond to the e-mail they receive each semester asking them whether they wish to opt in. “That’s the problem with an opt-in policy,” said council chair Katherine Ewing, an associate professor of cultural anthropology.
As a result, little information is accessible to students. “I think having data on [so few] of the courses is just not very meaningful for students,” argued David Malone, associate professor of the practice of education.
When the council members were ready to make up their minds, more than one show of hands was necessary to verify the close vote. Fourteen professors voted against the change, 13 voted in favor and one abstained. Of the council’s 33 voting members, one showed up too late to vote, and four departments had no representative at the meeting.
Faculty were more supportive of changing the process by which they can choose to have data posted. Changes to the process will allow professors to choose to have all their evaluations automatically posted or hidden, instead of having to reaffirm their preferences each semester. Owen Astrachan, a professor of the practice of computer science, summarized the improvements for his fellow council members, noting that the old system did not even require entry of a NetID to confirm a professor’s identity.
“The process has been made secure,” Astrachan said. The resolution to improve the opt-in process passed unanimously.
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