[Uosenateexec] Senate input requested on proposed plans for administration of Summer term Course Surveys (Friday, 5/1 12 pm)

[Senate President]

Dear UO Senators,

The Senate's teaching excellence committee (CIET) has been working together with the provost's office to make recommendations on the question of summer administration of course surveys (yes or no), and if yes, when to administer them, and who should have access to review the surveys.  As you know, no course surveys are being administered in Spring term courses.

Co-Chair Sierra Dawson has summarized the results from a CIET committee survey which I've copied here.  Please reach out to your constituents-particularly summer term instructors-and please respond to me and copy the CIET co-chairs eskowron at uoregon.edu<mailto:eskowron at uoregon.edu>; sdawson at uoregon.edu<mailto:sdawson at uoregon.edu>; harbaugh at uoregon.edu<mailto:harbaugh at uoregon.edu> with any feedback by Friday, 5/1 at 12 pm. I will summarize your input and forward it to the committee and provost's office.


1.       All CIET members suggested that we engage the end-of-course Student Experience Survey (E-SES) this summer (as opposed to pausing them again).

*         An important point was raised about Graduate Instructors who may only teach as the sole instructor in the summer, and would really like some student feedback for continuous improvement or to share with future employers in a job application.

2.       Most CIET members suggested that the E-SES should only be viewed by instructors for continuous improvement - and not be viewable by unit heads for evaluation purposes (just like the midway Student Experience Survey is set up regularly).

3.       Should there be an opt-in or an opt-out mechanism?

*         There is significant work involved to create an opt-out (or opt-in) mechanism, so if it is not needed, it would be better to direct those people-hours to other valuable work to support faculty and GE's this summer.

*         Some noted that if the results are only viewable by the instructor, instructors can functionally opt-out by simply not looking at the E-SES report.

4.       FYI, in terms of when to run the course surveys: to give a sense of scale, in 2018 team TEP ran the numbers to determine when to run the course surveys and this is what they discovered:



 Course End Date


Number of CRNs


Percentage of total CRNs


Number of Students


Percentage of total Students


Week 4


               177


28.0%


          4,862


26.9%


Week 8


               301


47.6%


          7,595


42.1%


Week 12


                  93


14.7%


          4,529


25.1%


Weeks 4, 8, 12





90.2%





94.1%



Elizabeth A. Skowron, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychology
Center for Translational Neuroscience
UO Senate President
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
http://ctn.uoregon.edu/
Tel. 541-346-9329

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On Apr 26, 2020, at 7:16 PM, Sierra Dawson <sdawson at uoregon.edu<mailto:sdawson at uoregon.edu>> wrote:



Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for your input regarding summer course surveys. Below is a summary of your thoughts.

Everyone who responded suggested that we engage the end-of-course Student Experience Survey (E-SES) this summer (as opposed to pausing them again). An important point was raised about Graduate Instructors who may only teach as the sole instructor in the summer, and would really like some student feedback for continuous improvement or to share with future employers in a job application.

Most suggested that the E-SES should only be viewed by instructors for continuous improvement - and not be viewable by unit heads for evaluation purposes (just like the midway Student Experience Survey is set up regularly).

Although an opt-in mechanism was proposed, there was a suggestion to switch to an opt-out mechanism. Then only those who absolutely do not want to participate can opt-out, and there is less opportunity for user error (e.g.: forget to opt-in). Some noted that if the results are only viewable by the instructor, instructors can functionally opt-out by simply not looking at the E-SES report. There is significant work involved to create an opt-out (or opt-in) mechanism, so if it is not needed, it would be better to direct those people-hours to other valuable work to support faculty and GE's this summer.

Finally, to give you a sense of scale, in 2018 we ran the numbers to determine when to run the course surveys and this is what we discovered:

 Course End Date


Number of CRNs


Percentage of total CRNs


Number of Students


Percentage of total Students


Week 4


               177


28.0%


          4,862


26.9%


Week 8


               301


47.6%


          7,595


42.1%


Week 12


                  93


14.7%


          4,529


25.1%


Weeks 4, 8, 12





90.2%





94.1%




Thank you all again for your input and feedback. I understand that Elizabeth plans to share our summary with the Senate and invite their comments, and that Janet will be sharing the summary with United Academics.



All my best,

Sierra





For scheduling, please contact Rachel Tischer at rtischer at uoregon.edu<mailto:rtischer at uoregon.edu> | 541-346-3861



Sierra Dawson PhD | Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
sdawson at uoregon.edu<mailto:sdawson at uoregon.edu> | 541-346-6836
215 Johnson Hall
1258 University of Oregon | Eugene, OR 97403
















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