The USG's Student Course Guide (SCG) is an excellent resource for students looking for reviews of classes offered in previous semesters. For courses that arouse strong positive or negative sentiments or are offered perenially, there is often abundant information. Unfortunately, the SCG is not always reliable: For smaller or more infrequently offered courses, the entries are often dated or lack sufficient sample sizes to give adequate information.
The SCG is not the only source of course feedback. At the conclusion of every course, students are asked to complete a class evaluation for the Registrar. In past years, the quantitative information collected has been released online in a single document. But the file, which can run well over 1,000 pages, is difficult to navigate and interpret and is too cumbersome to be a viable everyday resource for students. In addition, students' lack of motivation for contributing to the SCG may result from their feeling that they are duplicating work: After having filled out the Registrar's survey, it may seem redundant to fill out the SCG survey as well.
The Registrar and the USG should consider teaming up to consolidate their course evaluations into one searchable database. The narrative descriptions in the SCG cannot be replaced by the statistical data presented in the Registrar's course evaluations. But together, the information from both sources could give students a more complete picture of what a class is like. Furthermore, some of the redundancy between the two surveys could be eliminated.
The Registrar and USG could also provide incentives for students to fill out course evaluations, which would populate the new resource with much-needed data. The USG could launch a drive to get students to fill out evaluations in exchange for free food or gear in Frist Campus Center, as it has done in the past, or the University could give out PAW points in exchange for participation. A more heavy-handed approach would be for the Registrar to require students to fill out online course evaluations before receiving their final course grade.
Consolidating USG and Registrar course evaluations would increase the visibility of each of the separate resources and ultimately give students more information when going into courses. By fusing these two resources, the Registrar and USG would simplify and strengthen a vital academic resource.
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