347 Schaeffer Hall
319-335-2348
timothy-hagle@uiowa.edu
Twitter: @ProfHagle
Fall 2024 Office Hours
Tue & Th: 4:45-6:15
Mailing Address
Dept of Political Science
341 Schaeffer Hall
20 E. Washington Street
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa 52242
Posted updated Prelaw FAQ for UI students
New Book, Riding the Caucus Rollercoaster 2024, published in paperback and for Kindle devices.
Posted updates to 12 papers in Iowa Voting Series for 2022 election data
New Book, Supreme Court Agenda Setting: The Warren Court, published for Kindle devices and computers with Kindle reader.
Published updated and expanded edition of Prelaw Advisor in paperback and for Kindle readers
My books
In fall of 1997 the Daily Iowan reported on a plan to publish SPOT results (Student Perceptions of Teaching, the old name for the official teaching evaluations). I have always written my
own evaluation questions, so I won't be able to participate in the planned publication. As a result I decided to put my evaluations on my web pages. Doing so allows me to include the written comments
as well as summary information for the questions.
At the end of 2001 I reformatted my evaluations pages (except for 30:029) to make them a bit easier to post and to make comparisons easier across semester. For each course the questionnaire results
and written comments are divided into two pages. The questionnaire results page will be structured to allow easy comparison for the same question across semesters. The written comments
page will contain the comments for each semester grouped together. I will probably only include three semesters of written comments because of their length, but I should be able to include more
from the questionnaire results.
One advantage of posting my evaluations is that I have an opportunity to respond to the written comments. Any response I have to a particular comment will follow the individual comment and be in
italics.
In addition to the evaluations I receive through the formal evaluation process, I occasionally receive comments from former students who have had a bit more time to evaluate the merits of my course
or teaching. Not surprisingly these comments tend to be fairly positive, but they can also be instructive. I've put these on a separate Miscellaneous page. In the case of POLI:3101/30:116 it
includes my all-time favorite (the first one listed), so do take a look at them.
Beginning for the Fall 2015 semester teaching evaluations were moved online for students (rather than handing them out in class). Details about the changes are on each of the course pages.
Beginning in the Fall of 2020 the required course evaluations were changed again. Apparently there was a very low response rate to the online evaluations (despite lots of reminders sent to students). There were also concerns that, how can I put this delicately, students weren't providing "fair" evaluations for certain instructors. Some feedback suggested that the online version was too burdensome to students (i.e., too many questions), especially if instructors added their own questions, plus some courses had to include questions for TA performance. As a result, the new evaluations consist of only six questions and instructor questions are not allowed. (Instructors can add "survey" questions, but it's not the same thing.) One positive about the new version is that the section for comments is a little more directed. Rather than leaving it to students to write something or not, there are three questions: what they found useful, what they would change, and what they would like the instructor to know.
The links below and at left are to teaching evaluations for my courses. There are three or four links for all but one of the courses: one for responses to the old multiple choice questions, possibly one to the new multiple choice questions, one to the written comments, and one to miscellaneous comments. The one Miscellaneous link without a course number is to general, non-course specific comments I have received.
POLI:1002/30:021 Lawyers in the American Political Process: Questionnaire, Written, Miscellaneous
POLI:3101/30:116 American Constitutional Law and Politics: New Questionnaire, Old Questionnaire, Written, Miscellaneous
POLI:3113/30:106 Research in Judicial Politics: New Questionnaire, Old Questionnaire, Written, Miscellaneous
POLI:3117/30:120 Administrative Politics and Policy (new name): Questionnaire, Written, Miscellaneous
POLI:3120/30:158 The Criminal Justice System: New Questionnaire, Old Questionnaire, Written, Miscellaneous
POLI:3121/30:153 The Judicial Process: New Questionnaire, Old Questionnaire, Written, Miscellaneous