Teacher evaluation surveys currently administered in class may be switched from paper to an online format, said Renata Engel, director of The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence.

Engel said the university will launch a pilot program with a University Park college and a Commonwealth Campus next fall to test the response rates of online versions of the Student Rating of Teacher Effectiveness (SRTE) survey.

"That's where we are in the stages," she said during an open discussion at Monday night's Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Academic Assembly meeting.

Rebecca Young, assistant to the vice provost for academic affairs, said the switch was sparked in hopes of increasing participation rates and accuracy.

Young said the current surveys, in Scantron format, often lead to marking errors, but an online survey would avoid errors and produce quicker results. "We're trying to do a lot of initiatives online," Young said. "This is just one of many."

Engel said yesterday that feedback gathered online would also allow for a more sophisticated evaluation of results.

"In terms of info that's gathered ... the technology enables us to look at results in a variety of different ways," she said.

Engel added that faculty members could more easily use the results to evaluate their progress over time.

Liberal Arts Rep. Nicole Belolan, a member of the committee that examined the possibility of an online survey, said posting the surveys online would also make the information easier to analyze more effectively.

Belolan added that an online version would allow the collected data to be used more efficiently and would help departments decide things such as tenure promotion and course improvement.

Dennis Buffington, agricultural sciences professor, said he is opposed to the idea of posting the SRTE surveys online, adding that his response rates have been high in the past.

"If [students] do it in class, they are more likely to do it," he said. "I would guess response rates would go down."

Buffington said his classes will fill out evaluation surveys today, and he predicts nearly all of the students will complete the survey.

"It is more or less mandatory now," he said.

During the assembly meeting, members suggested possible online locations for the survey, such as the ANGEL Course Management System and eLion.

Members also discussed whether completing the survey online should be mandatory.

"[Students] are definitely not going to fill them in online unless they have to," Assembly Vice President of Programming Tammy Rishel said.