College of Business Administration Sen. Robert Martinez proposed a new resolution to the Associated Students Inc. Senate floor Wednesday evening that aims to make teacher evaluations more environmentally friendly, by converting to digital distribution.
Specific details as to how to make the form accessible to all students were left vague.
“The goal would be to have [digital course evaluations] in class, but we also have to give a way that if [students] didn’t have an electronic device, you have a frame of time to use university resources like the University Library,” Martinez said.
He stressed the final aim of the resolution was to make distribution of the evaluations more sustainable, not to alter them in any way.
“Currently [teacher evaluations] use a million sheets of paper each semester, in addition to the
labor hours that go into processing all those sheets of paper,” Martinez said. “This resolution isn’t changing the content of those evaluations, just in how they are administered.”
Most of the Senate responded positively to the idea, offering input on how to administer the digital evaluation in a way that is accessible to everyone.
“This would offer a great way to be more sustainable and be more mindful about the resources
we are using,” Sen. at-large Melissa Mejia said.
Mejia added that most students would probably be able to do evaluations online, but the university should still offer paper versions for students with “different abilities.”
The biggest concern that members of the Senate brought up was the lack of
motivation students would have to complete the course evaluations.
“My only concern is that since this is not really mandatory, students won’t have to fill out the
evaluation, especially if they’re not there,” said Sen. at-large Naomi Howansky. “My only concern is making it fair for professors to get all the evaluations in.”
Despite some concerns, the general idea proposed by the resolution was favorably received by the Senate, which approved it for a second reading.