SA sends out course and advising surveys

The Student Association and administration jointly sent out course evaluation and academic advising surveys via e-mail over the last week.

The course evaluation survey, co-funded by the University and the SA, is a 50-question poll completed by students that gives feedback to professors and departments on courses and teaching style. Students will be able to see the results of the questionnaires when registering for classes to decide which professors and courses to take.

Ross Makuta, the SA’s vice president of Academic Affairs, said the course evaluations, which his organization spent $1,500 administering, are better than the paper evaluations many professors give in class. “They cut down on paper usage and give professors more time at the end of the semester when it is most important,” Mankuta said.

Last semester the surveys had a 45 percent response rate.

SA Sen. Ryan Kilpatrick (ESIA-U) also sent a mass e-mail survey to help his special committee on academic advising recommend changes to the administration.

“We are going to find out what is wrong (with advising) and what some programs are doing right,” Kilpatrick said.

The advising surveys will not cost the SA any money, and Kilpatrik, whose term expires this Friday, said the committee will continue to make recommendations to the University after he leaves.

“This was an issue a lot of senators campaigned on and a lot of students care about,” Kilpatrick said. “It is important that the evaluation work is completed this year and continued next year.”

?Jenette Axelrod