The results from the spring 2004 professor evaluations are in. The United Students Government at Buffalo State College compiled the results , which are different from the end-of-semester evaluations distributed by the academic departments. The data was gathered by the organization with one goal in mind.

“The goal of this project is to better inform students as to the general view of their peers. The student participation that drove them is paramount to the ideals, which embody United Students Government,” said Chris Reed, associate vice president of academics.

The result booklets are available in the Student Union lobby and also in the library. Over 500 BSC students participated in the study evaluating professors on the following categories:

• grading method
• difficulty of course
• textbooks that were valuable to course
• communication skills
• teaching and testing style
• Would students recommend the professor to other students?

But how accurate are the results as far as overall professor performance?

Dr. Simon Peter Gomez, political science professor at BSC, believes there are some problems with the way the surveys are conducted.

“It's a good idea to have the surveys available for students, but it could be better,” Gomez said.

USG representatives went into select classes and distributed the surveys, therefore were not representative of all courses a professor may teach.

“Some classes received the surveys and some did not. Therefore, those students did not have the chance to participate,” Gomez said.

According to Gomez, another problem is student attitudes toward a particular professor.

“People with strong opinions, whether positive or negative, are the only ones who typically fill them out,” he said.

Those reading the surveys can not make any generalizations on the class or the professor due to a number of reasons. Professor Gomez believes by having only seven questions on the survey , there is no way to capture the full dimensions of a professor's performance. But that is not the only problem.

One of the questions asked students to select the teaching style the professor most often uses. For Gomez, he teaches three classes and teaches each one differently. In his Intro to Political Science class he gives multiple-choice exams, but that is the only class that exam style is given.

Class sizes also play a factor into teaching styles. In larger classes, there is no way to have class participation. The professor must simply have a lecture format with multiple-choice exams.

So based on all of these factors, are the surveys conducted by USG accurate?

“I don't think they're accurate because people need to have an equal opportunity to participate. They provide a rough sketch of a professor's teaching ability,” Gomez said.

The results of the surveys conducted by USG do not reflect the opinions of USG and is not endorsed by the college.

Email: solana23@mail.buffalostate.edu