by Ashleigh Sanchez
Daily Lobo
For the past 20 years, students have participated in the same end-of-semester ritual: filling out the ICES evaluations.
But UNM is looking to replace ICES, because it's outdated, said Nick Flor, UNM Teaching and Technology faculty coordinator.
UNM will test the IDEA system this semester as a possible replacement.
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Flor said another system was tested in the spring, but the University wasn't sure it could handle UNM's needs.
He said the end-of-semester evaluation system needs to be high quality and reliable, because the evaluations play a role in determining tenure and raises for faculty.
Flor said IDEA will be used in eight classes this semester.
"I'm really excited about IDEA," he said. "This will give teachers more feedback on how to improve instead of just means and averages of responses."
For IDEA, teachers list up to 12 main class objectives, Flor said. The program uses those objectives to score the evaluations.
"If a teacher lists that critical thinking is a main objective, and communication is not, the test will use input from questions pertaining to critical thinking while skipping over ones based on communication," he said.
The report will include analysis on the questions and suggestions for improvement.
"Instructors will be directed to a Web site where they can read papers on how to improve various aspects of teaching, from how to improve motivation to developing critical-thinking skills," Flor said.
Student Jolene Crespin said it's time for a change.
"I don't know that they are effective, because most students don't put any thought into them," she said. "The new one will probably be a lot better, because you'd get a whole lot more perspective."
Crespin said she wonders whether teachers and administrators read the evaluations.
"I've had really bad classes where the teacher is back the next year," she said. "So, I don't know that they make any difference."
Student Kenny Fresquez said IDEA could make evaluations more useful.
"If they went by course objectives, they could tackle issues better," he said. "That would be fantastic."
Flor said systems like IDEA cost between $50,000 and $150,000, but price isn't the focus.
"We want students to learn," he said. "This system will make it easier for teachers to improve, thus benefiting our students. It's invaluable."
