Help Us Get Better
He who is not busy being born is busy dying.
-Bob Dylan.

The Spring season is a dust-up of last minute papers, final exams, comprehensive exams, portfolios and dissertations. These trying assessments allegedly give professors a modest measure of how your education has progressed.

Despite the best of intentions, we know that tests and papers alone are not enough, don’t we? These instruments often do not reflect all of what we have taken away from classes.

And what about measures of teaching effectiveness? Those of us who profess know that we have many limitations. Like you, we are endeavoring to become better at what we do.

That is why we need your help.

You should receive an online opportunity to fill out a class evaluation for every course that you take. This information is vital to our teaching and learning efforts.

For example, after several years of trial and error, a body of research is now emerging about how to create a better learning environment online. Being an autonomous learner in an online course is a significantly different experience than being a student in a regular classroom. Teaching a class online requires a wholly different approach if we are to engage students individually and effectively.

Dearest students, when you complete your classes this semester, if you will take a few minutes to complete your student evaluation forms for each of your classes, I guarantee that those evaluations will be carefully read by me and other faculty, and taken seriously. Be candid and constructive in your evaluations. We need to hear from you this semester.

Michael Patrick
Dean
Chair, Journalism