U Iowa Home Page

Political Science

Contact Info

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 evaluations for Fall 2024 courses (POLI:3101 and POLI:3121)

Posted updated Prelaw FAQ for UI students

Posted evaluations for Spring 2024 courses (POLI:1120 and POLI:3120).

Posted syllabi for Fall 2024 courses (POLI:3101 and POLI:3121)

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

$9.99 Kindle ebook

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.

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 % Responding is the percentage of students in the class that responded to the evaluation questions.  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 in the department.

For Fall 2024 a new system for evaluations was used that no longer provided the Department Mean.

Instructor Questions

The first three questions are related to the instructor.

Fall 2021: There are occasionally one or two students who really don't like an instructor or course.  This semester there seemed to be several who really hated me and this course.  That resulted in a dramatic drop in numbers for these questions and more complaints in the written comments.  I think some of it was related to changes I made in the course due to the pandemic, but some of it was likely just a bad combination this semester.

Organization--The instructor used class time well.

Clarity--The instructor communicated course material clearly.

Learning Focused--The instructor's teaching methods helped student learn.

Fall 2020: Having only three students responding means that one student who really dislikes the course can significantly pull the mean down.

Course Questions

The next three questions are related to the course.

Learning Materials--The assignments, readings, and activities facilitated student learning.

Assessment--Assessments (such as quizzes, papers, and exams) aligned with course objectives.

Support--Help was available for students.