Once a semester, at least some Ball State University students get to participate in a role-reversal and assign grades instead of receiving them. As it stands, too few students get this opportunity, and the university suffers as a result.
With a few changes, professor evaluations could be a more valuable tool and students could help Ball State keep good professors and weed out the poor performers. The current system has one major aspect missing: standardization.
Currently, each department within the university can determine the specifics of professor evaluations and whether or not they will be distributed at all. The lack of accountability at a university-wide level can make evaluations a waste of students' time and effort.
In effect, comparison of professors between departments is impossible with the current system. Professors might be held accountable within their departments, but only if the evaluations are handed out in the first place.
If Ball State wants to ensure excellence in all departments of the university, professors need to be held to the same high standards.
An easy solution to the problem would be to require that every professor, regardless of department, be subject to a standard evaluation provided by the university. Every professor would be graded, and there would be no discrepancies from department to department. With this change, all Ball State professors could be compared to one another and weak spots could be addressed.
Students would also benefit from a standardized evaluation process. The university should define one week when evaluations are to be given so students would know exactly when evaluations were coming up. This way, students could come to class prepared and give professors the grades they deserve.
The standardization process shouldn't end with the administration of evaluations. The more standardization that occurs, the more effective and practical the evaluation process becomes.
If Ball State doesn't standardize the professor evaluation process, it will be the one receiving the failing grade.
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