Whether they contain comments or doodles, complaints or praise, some faculty members are questioning the reliability and validity of student evaluations of instructors.

The University Senate will further look at the effectiveness of the Student Input to Teaching Evaluation questionnaires at the senate meeting this Thursday.

Robert Cobb, director of Institutional Research, said SITE questionnaires are given to students each semester to get input about the effectiveness of instructor performance.

Senate Chairman Paul Markham said that earlier this semester, during a senator orientation event, a few faculty members mentioned that they’d like to revisit the issue of the effectiveness of SITE questionnaires and whether or not the reports should be altered or replaced by a different tool.

“The whole idea is, we just want it to be more helpful,” Markham said.

He said the SITE surveys will be discussed at this Thursday’s senate meeting. It will be up to Academic Quality Committee members to decide if they want the senate to vote on the issue again.

Associate History Professor Tony Harkins, chairman of the Academic Quality Committee, said a resolution was brought to the senate last year to reexamine the effectiveness of the SITE questionnaires, but the senate voted against it because of the cost.

Cobb said alternatives are more expensive than the $22,000 to $23,000 the university spends annually on the current SITE system.

“We’ve looked at some online measures, but none of them offer the flexibility and timeliness of the current system,” Cobb said.

He said that, even though the current system takes a while to send out results, it ensures that a larger number of students will give reliable feedback than online options.

Once students complete the questionnaires, the forms are sent to the Office of Institutional Research and are machine scored for administrative and personal purposes, according to a report constructed by the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching.

The questionnaires ask students general questions including whether the instructor is actively helpful, well prepared for class, effective, fair and demonstrates a clear understanding of the course, according to the report.

Lexington sophomore Jasmine Barber said she thinks the questionnaires are effective to a certain degree.

“I just don’t think that students are taking them as seriously as they should be,” Barber said.

She said she’s given serious feedback to teachers, but she’s also drawn pictures on the back of the questionnaires.

Lexington sophomore Justin Powell said he doesn’t think as many students will complete the forms if the questionnaires are moved online to save class time.