347 Schaeffer Hall
319-335-2348
timothy-hagle@uiowa.edu
Twitter: @ProfHagle
Spring 2025 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
This page contains the responses to the new new questionnaire that I used for courses taught from the Fall 2020 semester on.
Prior to the Fall 2015 semester I had used my own questions for my teaching evaluations. I did this because I didn't think the standard questions on either the old SPOT or ACE forms got at things I wanted to know regarding the students' thoughts on the course. I also objected to the way the questions were structured. By that I mean that all the questions were phrased in positive terms and were on a six-point strongly agree to strongly disagree scale. Well-constructed surveys don't structure the questions in that way. In part, this is so that the person responding to the survey doesn't just automatically pick agree or disagree for everything, but must read and think about each question.
The process for administering teaching evaluations was moved online beginning with the Fall 2015 semester. Unfortunately, this meant that all instructors were forced to use a set of standard questions. Although instructors could add questions of their own, there were significant limitations in the form and format of such questions. As a result, the new questionnaire for my courses included three standard questions asked of all College of Liberal Arts and Sciences courses, 11 questions required by the Political Science Department, and 10 of my own questions. The response set for all these questions ranged from 6 = strongly agree, to 1 = strongly disagree.
Some of the Department questions were similar to those I had used on my old questionnaire. That allowed me to limit my added questions to only 10 while still covering most of the items contained on my previous questionnaire.
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 also 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 and I didn't do it.) One positive about the new version is that the section for written 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.
Like the last year or so of the previous oneline version, the results I see don't show a count of the individual responses, just the mean. I do see all the individual responses, but I would have to count them myself. That wouldn't be too hard when the response rate is low, but it also wouldn't be all that useful. Thus, for now I'll only show the mean. I'm also going to include the response rate for the course.
A Note on This Course: This course, along with POLI:3121 are the two courses that are at the sophomore/junior level. This course is mainly lecture and I stick very close to a text I use. The focus is on criminal law (elements of crimes, etc.) in the first half of the course and criminal procedure (e.g., search and seizure) in the second half. In the second half of the course the students also read a few Supreme Court opinions in addition to the text. This gives them an opportunity to learn to how to extract information from cases (which is not like reading ordinary textbooks). That will help for those going on to POLI:3101 or law school.
Reminder: The response set for all the questions below is 6 = strongly agree to 1 = strongly disagree.
N is the number of students who submitted the evaluation. The number in the (6) to (1) columns indicates how many students selected that option. The Mean is the mean score for that semester. The Dept Mean is the mean score for all instructors for that question across all courses.
The first three questions are related to the instructor.
Organization--The instructor used class time well.
Semester | N | % Responding | Mean | Dept Mean |
S 2024 | 6 | 25% | 4.83 | 5.11 |
S 2023 | 8 | 21% | 6.00 | 5.13 |
S 2022 | 5 | 20% | 5.60 | 5.22 |
S 2021 | 7 | 20% | 4.43 | 5.09 |
Clarity--The instructor communicated course material clearly.
Semester | N | % Responding | Mean | Dept Mean |
S 2024 | 6 | 25% | 4.67 | 5.04 |
S 2023 | 8 | 21% | 6.00 | 5.07 |
S 2022 | 5 | 20% | 5.40 | 5.14 |
S 2021 | 7 | 20% | 4.71 | 4.97 |
Learning Focused--The instructor's teaching methods helped students learn.
Semester | N | % Responding | Mean | Dept Mean |
S 2024 | 6 | 25% | 3.83 | 4.95 |
S 2023 | 8 | 21% | 5.38 | 4.99 |
S 2022 | 5 | 20% | 4.80 | 5.03 |
S 2021 | 7 | 20% | 3.86 | 4.92 |
The next three questions are related to the course.
Learning Materials--The assignments, readings, and activities facilitated student learning.
Semester | N | % Responding | Mean | Dept Mean |
S 2024 | 6 | 25% | 4.67 | 5.03 |
S 2023 | 8 | 21% | 5.88 | 4.98 |
S 2022 | 5 | 20% | 5.60 | 5.09 |
S 2021 | 7 | 20% | 4.29 | 4.99 |
Assessment--Assessments (such as quizzes, papers, and exams) aligned with course objectives.
Semester | N | % Responding | Mean | Dept Mean |
S 2024 | 6 | 25% | 4.50 | 5.19 |
S 2023 | 8 | 21% | 5.75 | 5.08 |
S 2022 | 5 | 20% | 5.60 | 5.24 |
S 2021 | 7 | 20% | 3.86 | 5.14 |
Support--Help was available for students.
Semester | N | % Responding | Mean | Dept Mean |
S 2024 | 6 | 25% | 3.67 | 5.11 |
S 2023 | 8 | 21% | 5.75 | 5.22 |
S 2022 | 5 | 20% | 4.00 | 5.24 |
S 2021 | 7 | 20% | 4.14 | 5.11 |
The difference between 2023 and 2024 is interesting given that there were no major changes in how I taught the class. One thing different for 2024 was that there were more students skipping class. I regularly joked when I came to class that I should be reqwarding those who were regularly attending. The "reward" ended up being how they did in the course as those who were regularly skipping didn't do as well. Not a surprise.