A student evaluation of University courses and professors might be available to help other students with scheduling next semester.

Creation and implementation of a plan for student course and professor evaluations were discussed Monday night at the Undergraduate Student Government's Academic Assembly meeting.

Assembly President Stephanie Bozym said some faculty members have objected to an evaluation in any published form, believing students do not have an objective view of their courses and professors.

To combat this problem, assembly members said they hope to conduct indepth student evaluations. The evaluations will be filed by course and available to all students at the USG office in 203 HUB.

The evaluation form has not been compiled, but members said they hoped to include a wide range of questions and allow students to make additional comments as needed. The student's semester standing and grade for the course will be included on the evaluation, members said.

Faculty members will also be encouraged to file self-evaluations in which they describe the course, their teaching approach and any other information they consider pertinent, said Ethan Eisner, chairman of the teacher/course evaluation committee and a business senator to the assembly.

James Eisenstein, professor of political science and a student adviser, said a need definitely exists for independently-conducted student evaluations . However, these evaluations have the potential to be destructive as well as constructive, he said.

"If the motivation is to improve the quality of teaching there is more likelihood of a positive contribution. If the motivation is to help students find easy courses where they can get a good grade without trying then it will not improve the quality of education at Penn State," Eisenstein said.

Eisenstein also expressed concern about the evaluation method, saying those students who come in to file evaluations may not represent an accurate sample of all the students in a particular course.

Some students felt the evaluations would be a good idea and useful in choosing classes.

Dean Rittenhouse (sophomore-meteorology) said the evaluation project is ideal for providing communication between professors and their students.

"It will let professors know what the students think. And if the professors comment, that can let students know why they teach a certain way," Rittenhouse said.

Amy Gordon (junior-marketing) said she previously held a work-study job at the University's Fayette Campus in which she typed student evaluations of teachers and depended on those evaluations when selecting her courses.

"I think students can relate to other students more than what the professors have to say about their courses," she added.

The assembly will compile, file and make information available, but in no way will it interpret the information or pass judgments on courses, Bozym said.

Eisner said extensive student involvement at the evaluation level is key to the project's success.

"Without people filling (the evaluation forms) out this thing is just going to fall apart," Eisner said.

To target student involvement, Eisner suggested advertising in local publications and distribution of flyers in residence halls, asking students to fill out evaluation forms on a designated day.

If the teacher/course evaluation project survives the planning stages and is successfully implemented, an assembly member may be elected to take charge of updating the evaluations each semester, Bozym said.

"The hardest part is getting started. Once we get started all we have to do is update it," she said.