The days of filling out course evaluations in class soon may come to an end - a new online evaluation system is on the way.
"This is an initiative that has been over two and a half years in coming," Arts and Sciences Council President Lauren Purnell said.
The new online system will serve many purposes and will replace the various evaluation systems currently in place, including online evaluations serving departments such as economics and psychology.
Students will be able to evaluate their courses without the hassle of excessive paperwork that can monopolize class time. University departments will be able to view student feedback and evaluate staff for the purposes of promotion and tenure.
One of the hallmarks of the new system will be a comprehensive Web site that allows individuals to log in as either a student or a guest and view class feedback, said Chris Husser, Student Council chief technology adviser.
Students will be able both to assess the courses they have taken and look at feedback from courses other students have taken.
"The primary goal is to allow students to make fact-based decisions about the classes they want to take rather than based on myths or rumors," Council President Abby Fifer said.
Participants in the project hope the system will be up and running by the end of this semester, or next semester at the latest.
The question remains as to how to ensure students will fill out the online evaluations.
"I think as students realize the benefit of seeing other students' comments, they will want to fill out the course evaluations," Purnell said.
The project has been a group effort by members of the Arts and Sciences Council, the Faculty Senate, the Teaching Resource Center, the Committee for Research and Scholarship as well as Student Council.
"The faculty is interested in having a course evaluation system that is fair and useful for both students and faculty," Faculty Senate chairman Robert Grainger said.
The faculty serves a primarily advisory role on this project.
"Our role is to help ask the right questions for public information and for use by the department," Grainger said.
"Right now there is a question of who will actually build the system," Husser said.
The system can either be built by University-based Information Technology and Communication or an outside company that could get it up and running faster. A programmer in Charlottesville is willing to set it up, but the program is contingent on University funding.
Leonard W. Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer "is looking into funding for the project," Fifer said.
The actual evaluation itself will be a two-pronged system.
The first set of five to 10 questions will be standardized and answered for every class.
The second part of the evaluation will be qualitative. Students will reply to questions pertaining specifically to their class in written form. Only department members will see the answers.
Similar programs such as Blackboard and E-Toolkit already are in place at the Commerce and Engineering schools.
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