The IDEA Center

Since August 1, 1975, The IDEA Center, Manhattan, Kan., has quietly, efficiently and systematically gathered data and offered feedback for faculty improvement in hundreds of thousands of college and university classes. The brainchild of one psychology professor who believed that student learning, rather than student whims, should be the yardstick of faculty evaluation, the IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction has spun off a suite of improvement feedback instruments currently used in 370 colleges and universities.
 
"The IDEA instrument has been an integral part of Bethel's educational ethos for nearly 30 years, supporting our endeavors to be an excellent teaching institution,” said Katherine Nevins, acting associate dean for faculty and professor of psychology at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn. “Perhaps most important to us is the instrument's ability to help us with faculty development program planning and design. The flexible data reporting allows us to assess curricular programs – a big help come reaccreditation time. The work the staff of the IDEA Center has done to promote best practices in college teaching through their diagnostic form and through their resource materials on their web site, demonstrates their steadfast commitment to IDEA's original goal: to improve student learning."
 
In 1968, Donald Hoyt, Ph.D., faculty member and administrator at Kansas State University in Manhattan, began creating a student ratings of teaching instrument that looked at student learning relative to an instructor’s objectives, rather than simply measuring an instructor’s behaviors or popularity.
 
In order to make the instrument — called IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction — more widely available, K-State established the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development (rechristened The IDEA Center in 1997) in 1975, thanks to a multi-year grant from the Kellogg Foundation. The goal was to improve student learning and the quality of instruction, first at Kansas State University, then nation-wide.
 
The IDEA system focuses on student learning of 12 instructor-specified objectives, soliciting students' feedback on their own learning progress, effort, and motivation, as well as their perceptions of the instructor's use of 20 instructional strategies and teaching methods. The reports provided by the Center include recommendations for improvement.
 
Since 1976, the Center has processed over 25 million individual students’ forms, and from 1990 to 2010, surveys from nearly 1.4 million classes have been processed.
 
“The more purposes our clients can use the information for, the better,” said Bill Pallett, Ph.D., president. “One of the things we really emphasize to our clients is that they can use the data to guide improvement efforts at the individual, program and institution level.”
 
Other ratings instruments developed over the years include IDEA Feedback for Deans, IDEA Feedback for Administrators, and IDEA Feedback for Department Chairs. In January 2011, the IDEA Center will also begin to offer a department chairs coaching service. Experienced higher-education leaders will provide various levels of support to improve chairs’ performance.
 
“We continually think about instruments or services that we are uniquely qualified to provide,” Pallett said. “The Chairs instrument and coaching service are good examples. Back in 1977, when we began offering the chairs instrument, there was no one else in that arena, and we saw a way to serve higher education and help people achieve better outcomes.”
 
Bill Cashin, Ph.D., joined the Center in 1975, became its director in 1985, and retired in 1996. Cashin was elected a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in 1993. Under Cashin’s leadership, The IDEA Center began offering national seminars and conferences on faculty development and teaching-learning issues, as well as conferences for academic chairs.
 
Cashin wrote many IDEA Papers, brief treatises offering faculty members practical insights to improve student learning. IDEA Papers can be downloaded from the Center’s site, www.theideacenter.org. Other publications offered over the years include Technical Reports, Research Reports, and POD-IDEA Papers, created in conjunction with the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education.
 
1997 was a transitional year for the Center. Pallett joined as president, having served as director of assessment at Kansas State University. Don Hoyt retired from K-State as assistant provost, director of the Office of Planning and Evaluation Services, and professor emeritus of psychology and education. He returned to IDEA as research coordinator. Amy Gross, Ph.D., joined the Center as vice president for integrative client services and is now serving as vice president for knowledge management.
 
“Long before terms like ‘learning communities’ and ‘learner-centered’ became common, the Student Ratings of Instruction measured students’ perception of their learning,” Gross said. “This instrument has required revision only once in 35 years, and the model itself has not changed — strong testament to the notion that good ideas do last!”
 
In 2001, The IDEA Center became a separate nonprofit entity. Since 2003, the board of directors has comprised 12 academic leaders, four of whom are faculty at Kansas State University.
 
Tim Johnson, vice president for innovation and technology, joined the Center in 2007 and Steve Benton, Ph.D., joined IDEA in 2008 as senior research officer, mining the vast amount of data for information such as whether students rate their learning higher in online classes or face-to-face classes, or whether chairs in different disciplines vary greatly in their perceptions of what their most important duties are.
 
In September, 2010, Shelley Chapman, Ph.D., will serve as vice president for client services. The IDEA Center currently employs 17.
 
Despite the tough economy and a price freeze for the last two and a half years, usage of The IDEA Centers products has increased dramatically. In the past three years, the Center’s revenue has doubled, reflecting similar increased usage of products and services.
 
“I remember talking to a college president once who was concerned about the future of his institution, and he said, ‘Our purpose isn’t to survive, it’s to effectively serve a very worthwhile mission. And if you do that, you will survive.’ I really believe that, and that’s how we operate here, too,” Pallett said.