SIRS forms have been around for many years, and they occupy a place at the university that falls somewhere within great joy, hatred or disgust. Students don’t like to fill them out in those last moments of a class because it requires careful thought, which usually is difficult at the end of a class. If a particular class is not to my liking, I use the SIRS form to vent my anger. I can leave the class happy because I have given a vicious low-blow to the instructor and the department.

An instructor might find the comments damning or positive. Depending on which it is, the response might be, “Why didn’t they say those things early in the course so I could have addressed those problems?”

Everyone wants feedback during a project, not after it’s already been handed in.

SIRS forms actually serve an important function within the teaching apparatus of the university. The problem is they have lost their impact because of where they occur in that system. What personal good does it do for you to use a form to supply comments after the semester is over? It won’t change the experience you had in the class. I agree with Pearson about the need to be able to see what comments are made, but I also caution that many of those comments are made at a time when the semester already has been deemed a disaster. And many times the instructor is not at fault.

I’m not saying that instructors never are to blame, but SIRS forms truly are not valuable when asked for in the last seconds of a course.

For those of you old enough (actually really old), you remember when the SIRS list was longer and contained the following (and probably an additional 25 comments):

1. Instructor’s enthusiasm
2. Instructor’s interest in teaching
3. Use of examples and personal experience to get ideas across
4. Concern with whether students learn the material
5. The course is an intellectual challenge
6. Instructor’s receptiveness to new ideas

What good did your answers do for you and your activities at the end of the semester: absolutely nothing. Perhaps a simple process could be put in place where a longer SIRS form was provided to students on the first day of class. The class would be asked to monitor the goings on; and if problems arose, the instructor and the students could discuss solutions as adults.

Both parties could learn valuable lessons, and a happier classroom could emerge. Instead of being used as a club, the SIRS form could provide a forum for intelligent discussion. If I knew that it seemed as if I never allowed people to answer my questions in class, maybe it would help if I was told during the semester, instead of being attacked after I could appropriately respond.

The SIRS form should be a living document that allows change for the better to occur in a timely fashion. Let the instructor hear comments and then make positive changes before going on the attack. If no resolution could be reached, then a higher authority could come in to resolve the problem. In either case, it would be handled immediately and not commented on 15 weeks later. It is time to stop using the SIRS form as a possible vicious weapon and make it a constructive learning endeavor.

Craig Gunn is a State News guest columnist. Reach him at gunn@egr.msu.edu.