CUE Guide Staffers Celebrate Midpoint

The first leg of the massive effort to assess more than 360 undergraduate classes has reached its midpoint as the seven member CUE Guide staff puts the finishing touches on the Core Curriculum descriptions.

The Guide evaluations, which attempt to and students in the often trying task of selecting courses, are drawn from questionnaires filled out by students during the last two weeks of the semester Course aspects ranging from the difficulty of the reading to section leaders performances receive ratings.

This year, the forms took on a slightly different appearance, with considerably more space for written responses with less emphasis on numerical ratings.

"There was a major shift from objective, numerical questions to subjective, essay-type questions," said CUE editor-in chief John R I rever '85.

Numerical indicators are misleading, "because everyone interprets them differently, but with more subjective questions we're putting their in context." Trever added.

The Guide takes its name from the Committee on Undergraduate Education, which funds the $75,000 project.

Professor Reaction

Though the annual, published guide's main purpose is to help students select the courses, its editors say it may also lead to better teaching.

Some professors--who received copies of each students' evaluation sheet--agree that the forms often point out problems which they would not have noticed otherwise.

Mellon Professor of Greek and Latin Zeph Stewart takes the CUE reports seriously, going so far as to write to each of his section leaders about student suggested ways to improve teaching.

John Womack Jr '59, History Department chairman, said he also considers the forms helpful, "but only if half or more of the students feel a certain way."

But, Womack does not always follow his students suggestions. For example, a certain book may receive a low rating, he said, but it may be the only paperback on the subject.

He may keep such a book on the reading list for economic reasons, he added. "A good hardback would cost $35 and that would mean the rich students could go off and buy it, but the others would scramble for the reserve copies."

Nice Tie

Not all students, however, take the questionnaires seriously, CUE editors said.

"Students sometimes write things that have nothing to do with the class--like 'he wore ugly ties,'" said staff writer C Faulkner Fox '85 '86.

Professors have the option of refusing to give class time for CUE evaluations, as Gurney Professor of English Literature Jerome H. Buckley has done for the past two years Buckley teaches Literature and Arts A.12, "Great Novels of the 19th and Early 20th Centuries."

This year's guide is already ahead of schedule, largely due to the development, over the past couple of years, of their own computer software, CUE staffers said.

The project is now fully computerized and, according to Systems Analyst Richard J. Kelly '85, "probably has the largest disc space on the Harvard [computer] system."

Between now and early August writers and editors will devote about 60 hours a week to complete the volume ahead of schedule