Teaching, Technology, and Learning

This academic year our university switched to the IDEA (Individual Development & Educational Assessment) system for course evaluations. These are the surveys that students fill out at the end of class to evaluate the course and the instructor. They're important because they give valuable feedback to the instructor and are also used for consideration in promotion and tenure.

The IDEA system was developed at Kansas State. It seems pretty good - the faculty member can customize the survey to the teaching model and learning objectives. For example, if my class requires no written papers, then I can rank lower questions about writing. I can also add my own questions, which makes it quite flexible.