Students will notice a new addition to course evaluations this semester: A new question asks how successfully professors create inclusive environments in the classroom.

The new question asks students to provide a numerical ranking, on a scale from one to seven, and an explanation for whether the instructor promoted “an inclusive learning environment with regard to the diversity of student personal backgrounds and identities.”

Skyler Kessler | Student Life

The Wash. U. course evaluations page, where students can review their courses and access evaluations submitted by other students in order to help decide what classes to select.

Dean of Arts & Sciences Jennifer Smith said that the question is intended to make professors aware of unconscious exclusionary behavior. If the question is found effective, the results will be shared with department heads, the Teaching Center, and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion in the future.

The change stems from the work of the Diversity in the Classroom subgroup of the now-concluded Mosaic Project, leading to faculty from all Danforth Campus schools to include a new question in the evaluations.

Junior Alejandro Martinez noted that the question might be too contentious in its current state.

“I think that’s a tough question to answer,” Martinez said. “A person can have many interpretations of what that question means, and how they perceive ‘diversity’ in a classroom. I fear there may be a stigma, too, to answer yes if it was a professor of color, or to say no if it’s a professor of a historically unmarginalized identity.”

Coming up with the exact wording for the new question was a tedious process, Smith said, and depending upon this first year’s course evaluation responses, the question may be rephrased for next semester’s course evaluations.

“We just don’t have any idea right now whether that question is going to get us [what we want],” Smith said. “If they make the decision that it is not working, we’re going to have to call a group together and get a new wording for next semester.”

The processing system for course evaluations is undergoing an overhaul as well. The current program was developed around 10 years ago, and the University is currently shopping for a more up-to-date system.

Architect for University Enterprise Applications Jason Clevenger is leading the technological overhaul. He said that the site is not as easy and convenient as it could be, and hopes to make it more accessible for students and faculty alike.

The new course evaluations site is intended to be more user-friendly, particularly with regard to mobile access.

“The look and feel, the usability [of the current site] is a little out-of-date,” Clevenger said. “Students would like to be able to click a link on course listings and see the evals for the course they’re interested in.”

Smith noted that the University has seen a need for improvements in course evaluations for years.

“My very first semester as dean, fall 2012, I went and talked to Student Union, and one of the things I wanted to do was improve course evaluations,” Smith said.

Developing a question that addressed inclusion was a major priority for Smith in this improvement process.

“Different schools, different classrooms tend to have different issues around inclusivity,” Smith said. “But the ultimate fundamental goal is having something that creates faculty awareness and provides some accountability on their efforts to have inclusive classrooms.”