U.S. Senate to vote on changing student lending practices
chronicle THE COLUMBIA
The Official News Source of Columbia College Chicago
March 29, 2010
Volume 45 Number 24
» PAGE 28
Korean restaurant In Lakeview serves it fast with fusion WEB-EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
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Truth about online evaluations Online survey responses lower than its paper predecessor by Ciara Shook Assistant Campus Editor AT THE conclusion of each semes-
ter, students who log into their Oasis accounts receive a notification about their course evaluations. The few who take time to complete these evaluations send the tabulation into the great abyss of the Internet. Most students continue studying for finals, but some may
wonder where their evaluations go or how they are used. “I don’t see the point of it,” said Daniel Hill, sophomore music composition major. The Chronicle contacted all 22 Columbia departments in an effort to find the answer. Fifteen of which responded. Most departments said though students’ opinions and commentary that appear on the evaluations are vital to building an effective curriculum, not enough are filed for departments to know what works and what needs improvement.
When departments receive results of the student evaluations, most look for trends within a certain class—if most students’ responses or comments are consistent on a certain issue. Many departments have coordinators and program directors who oversee evaluations within their respective program when the evaluations become available to faculty. Constantin Rasinariu, chair of the Science and Math Department, uses the example of his department where course coordinators work in areas such as
biology, chemistry, mathematics, Earth science and physics. “Each coordinator is responsible for keeping an eye on those areas and other adjustments,” Rasinariu said. Department chairs have access to these course evaluations and many look at them to see what goes on in their department’s classrooms. Though most faculty members take this simple survey seriously, most say not enough students complete the forms in order to
create a sample large enough for faculty to get a true sense of how a class progressed throughout the semester. “We don’t get enough of [student evaluations] in order to do fair evaluations,” said Pantelis Vassilakis, chair of the Audio Arts and Acoustics Department. “You have to have at least 70 percent of the class respond
» SEE EVALUATIONS, PG. 8
Konrad Biegaj & Erik Rodriguez THE CHRONICLE
Photography Department cuts credit hours Will the change from four to three affect students’ degrees? by Benita Zepeda Campus Editor WHEN IT comes time for stu-
dents to register for the fall 2010 semester, Photography Department students will find that all four-credit courses have been changed to three-credit courses. The change was considered and reviewed by the Photography Department Curriculum
Committee for more than a year. The commitee submitted the proposal in January to Eliza Nichols, Dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts, and the change was approved in February. Although there will no longer be any four-credit courses in the department, the course curriculum will remain the same despite the change in credit hours. Bob Thall, chair of the Photography Department, said all the changes were part of improve-
» SEE PG. 3
Erik Rodriguez THE CHRONICLE
ments the committee suggested. “We can see no reason why some photography courses carry four credits while most carry three,” Thall said. “In some cases, there may have been a reason at one time to designate a course as four credits, but in each case » SEE PG. 14
there is no current reason for the difference in credit hours.” Thall said this will not affect students currently enrolled in four-credit courses, or students who have already completed one. “Any student successfully completing a four-credit course through this summer will have that class count as four credits,” Thall said. “Anyone enrolled in courses now will see no effect to those courses.” These changes will not affect students graduating in May or the summer. They only impact students who enroll in classes starting next fall. Incoming freshmen and continuing students will be affected by the change in credit hours. The solution for making up the credit hours is allowing
continuing students and freshmen to have the opportunity to take electives in addition to onecredit workshops. “We think this is a good thing, providing more choice and better preparation for our students,” Thall said. Steve Kapelke, provost and senior vice president of the college, agreed these credit changes will not affect students who are trying to graduate. “A curriculum change never takes place in the semester which the committee is working on it,” Kapelke said. “Nothing we do is going to affect our current seniors. We would never allow that.” However, junior photography major Samantha Gold said she is upset about the change because she had worked out her college advising plan based on four
» SEE PG. 34
» SEE PHOTOGRAPHY, PG. 9
INDEX
Unspoken stories of college partying
METRO
Tuition spike raises concern
H&F A&C
CAMPUS
CAMPUS
2
H&F
11
A&C
17
Big spending COMMENTARY on Census METRO
28 31