Online evaluations raise concern

By DONNA LONGENECKER
Reporter Assistant Editor

Members of the Faculty Senate Computer Services Committee are concerned about confidentiality and fairness issues regarding the online posting of students' evaluations of teaching assistants, the senate's Executive Committee was told at its April 3 meeting.

"How can apprentice teachers—who will eventually be on the market with UB Ph.D.s—be protected from the exaggerated consequences of their experience" because "everyone in the world" has access to their evaluations, committee Chair Maureen Jameson, associate professor of French, told FSEC members.

The Student Association has been publishing student evaluations of some College of Arts and Sciences courses, including those sections taught by TAs, on its Web site.

Jameson noted that the senate's Teaching and Learning Committee has recommended that the university adopt CourseEval, a software program that would allow students to fill out course evaluations online, and that use of the software may resolve some of these concerns.

In her year-end report to the FSEC, Jameson also asked senators to review the "MyUB" faculty Web site, currently a work-in-progress, to offer feedback to the Computer Services Committee. MyUB is a customized portal, or Web site, that provides the user with myriad information about UB via Web links and announcements.

Jameson noted that the Web Team in the Office of Creative Services in University Communications, which is responsible for the site's design, is soliciting feedback regarding all aspects of the site. Faculty can peruse the site, located at http://myub.buffalo.edu, by logging in using their UBIT name.

Several FSEC members expressed concerns about the online telephone and email directory, LDAP (which is managed by CIT), and the accuracy of the information it provides. Bernice Noble, professor of microbiology, said that her email address was changed by CIT without her knowledge, creating a host of complications that took some time to resolve. "Clearly, something is falling through the crack's here," Noble said.

Jameson said that faculty members need a representative voice to speak to IT issues at both the local and central level, noting that while IT advisory committees do exist within several of the decanal units, "there is now no mechanism for faculty input at the central level in the IT decision-making process other than the Faculty Senate Computer Services Committee."

In other business, Peter Nickerson, professor of pathology and chair of the Student Life Committee, reported that his panel is examining the role and effect of Greek organizations on campus life. He also noted that in response to student concerns, the Office of Career Planning and Placement has improved its services. "We're very pleased with what's going on," he said, adding that the office is actively reaching out to students, beginning at the freshmen level.

William Baumer, professor of philosophy, reported that the Grading Committee, which he chairs, is working on policies related to reasonable progress toward a baccalaureate degree, administrative grade changes—what can be done when an instructor refuses to change a grade when the student has legitimate proof that the grade should be changed—and the coordination of the academic grievance procedures at the graduate and undergraduate levels.