Course evaluations sought by ASM

Academic departments have until Friday, March 9, to submit course and instructor evaluations for fall 2000 to Associated Students of Madison, according to the Provost’s Office.

In a letter to department chairs Feb. 22 co-signed by ASM Chair Mike Dean, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Robert Skloot refers to the evaluations being public records and requests the evaluations be sent to ASM.

“Your prompt response is very important and very appreciated,” Skloot writes in the letter.

Previous notices were sent to departments last fall by the Provost’s Office and again earlier this month by Interim Provost Gary D. Sandefur. The letter requesting the information has been sent to departments every semester for the last six years.

Skloot and Dean note in their letter that legal action could result if departments fail to comply with ASM’s open records request. The UW System Board of Regents has directed campuses to make public the summary results of student evaluations, and court rulings have dictated that the evaluations are public records, Skloot emphasizes.

UW–Madison student government has prepared the Course and Instructor Evaluation Booklet for several years from the requested information. The booklet provides a summary of the evaluations with scores on a 1-5 scale, with 5 the highest score.

The numerical teaching evaluations are only one method of assessing instruction and often not the most accurate or informative, Skloot says.

“Nonetheless, the Provost’s Office and ASM are committed to working together to insure publication of the most complete and reliable information as required by law,” Skloot says.