Now that we have all experienced the thrill of filling out faculty evaluation forms, what will be done with them?

In a perfect world, the evaluation forms would be forwarded to the professors, and each professor would pore over his/her evaluations, paying close attention to what the students have to say about the professor's particular teaching style. Then, the prof essor would adjust his/her teaching style by continuing to teach in ways the students found to be effective and by revising the techniques that were criticized.

But this is not a perfect world. Many professors assign readings from the textbook, and then use the lecture period to briefly recount the important points from the reading. If students neglect to do the assigned reading, relying solely on the brief lectu res for information, the students do not learn the material properly, consequently scoring poorly on tests. Then, when faculty evaluations are handed in, many of these students complain about the professor's teaching style.

On the other hand, professors who are too lenient are not doing the students any favors, either. The best way to learn is by studying. A professor who gives "easy As," or who allows all the students to pass the course, is not giving his/her students enoug h motivation to study. It takes a lot of motivation to chain oneself to a computer and a pile of textbooks when there are infinitely more fun things to do out there in the Arizona sunshine. It is logical to assume that if a student is motivated to study, s/he will study. If the student is not motivated to study, s/he will succumb to the beautiful Arizona weather and goof off outside instead. When it is time to fill out evaluations, professors who are too lenient often receive good reviews from students wh o do not realize yet that they are not prepared for the next level, since they were not required to learn the material to pass the course.

But what should be done with the faculty evaluations? Everyone seems to have a different opinion. Some feel the evaluations should be used by department heads to evaluate faculty members. Others feel the evaluations should be kept private; professors shou ld be able to review their evaluations, and adjust their teaching styles accordingly, without worrying about what others will think. Many students would like to see the evaluations published to further enable them to make informed choices of professors fo r their courses.

Publishing the evaluations can also have its problems. Students, especially new students who do not know any professors yet, may use the published evaluations as their only source of information when choosing professors. This can be a problem since, as me ntioned before, evaluations do not always give a clear picture of the professor. Also, if a professor receives many negative evaluations, s/he may dramatically change his/her teaching style to improve the class being taught.

Personally, I feel the evaluations should be published in a tasteful manner, perhaps in a booklet or catalog form. Each professor would have a section with the results and numbers at the top, followed by all the comments that were on the forms. At the end of the section would be an area designated for the professor's comments, where s/he could add whatever information s/he feels is appropriate. This would be fair to professors and students alike.

Last semester, I took a 300-level biological science course which was taught by three professors. All three professors were excellent at teaching their material. However, one of the professors had a terribly disorganized set of notes; therefore, his lectu res were difficult to follow. I would write down every word this professor said during his lectures in shorthand, then use the textbook to recopy the notes in an organized, easily-readable manner. Then, I photocopied my notes and gave a copy of them to t he professor. He was very grateful, and he said he will be using my notes to teach the course next year. I'm certain when he was evaluated last semester, the word, "disorganized" appeared under the "Comments" section on more than one evaluation form.

Next year, this professor is going to be very organized. I know. He's using my notes.

Paula Huff is a molecular and cellular biology junior.