E-mails asking recipients to fill out surveys, regardless of what they are about, are deleted almost as fast as junk mail. Deleting them is too easy; you don't have to say no to someone's face and, once they are deleted, they are gone forever.

So when 19 departments put Student Instructional Rating System, or SIRS, forms online, it is no wonder that less students participated than when the forms were handed out in Scantron form in classes.

In the Integrative Studies in General Science department, SIRS responses dropped from 70 percent on paper forms to only 35-45 percent with the online forms. This is a dramatic decrease, but it is no surprise considering that the online forms put no pressure on the students and offer no incentives.

Many students don't care enough to go to class, so why would they take the time to fill out an online survey?

Giving students the surveys in class puts pressure on them to complete the forms. There is almost no reason to refuse a SIRS form in class.

Simple incentives such as a candy bar, coupon for a local store or even a pen would be good enough for most students to fill out the online surveys. Simple rewards can go a long way toward making that delete button seem undesirable.

One overriding problem with the SIRS forms is the inability to see their results. We realize how important rating the faculty and facilities is important to both the staff and students. If everyone could see how the professors and classes were rated, not just officials, they would be more motivated to fill out the forms because it would allow them to provide other students with an accurate rating on the class prior to signing up.

With these few easy changes, the rating system of classes could be improved dramatically.

If more students participate, the faculty can better gauge how they are doing. If results are made more public, students and faculty alike could benefit from the results.