Course evaluation system

SW: The faculty was given access last week; the date for students to begin evaluating courses is Nov. 17. Right now, students and faculty who want more information can find it on the course evaluation website.

SW: Starting this semester, every course with an enrollment of five or more students will use the system, except for tutorial courses and clinical courses, such as those in medicine or pharmacy.

SW: There will be 16 core questions for every course evaluated at UB. These will be more general questions asking if the course was well-organized, if the content was challenging, etc.

SW: In addition to core questions, for each course there are what we call “Unit Custom Questions” — up to 10 questions that can be added to an evaluation by the instructor that ask questions specific to that course.

SW: Yes. Course evaluations are anonymous. Faculty cannot see individual responses. Faculty and administrators receive a summary report that compiles responses across all students in the class. However, students should be sure not to include any identifiable information about themselves in the open-ended answers.

SW: Students may only edit or change an evaluation during the time when course evaluations are open. Once course evaluations close, you will be unable to alter your evaluation.

SW: Evaluations will run from Monday, Nov. 17, through Monday, Dec. 15 at midnight.

SW: Faculty were sent an email last week with a link directly into the Course Evaluation System and they can log in to see their courses. Students will receive an email on Nov. 17 inviting them to complete their evaluations with an included link.

SW: In spring 2013, the Faculty Senate and the provost jointly charged a committee to determine whether the campus should adopt a standard system for course evaluations for the purposes of better assessing student attitudes about the quality of teaching and to ensure consistency and comparability of information obtained across the university.

Under the leadership of Peter Biehl, chair of the Department of Anthropology, the Committee for University Wide Course Evaluations was enacted, with faculty and staff members organized into two subcommittees: The Course Evaluation Subcommittee was charged with developing the course evaluation content, including the types of questions to be asked and how to appropriately structure the instrument; the Implementation Subcommittee was charged with developing recommendations regarding the infrastructure needed to effectively administer and manage course evaluations at this scale.

SW: The system was piloted this past summer in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education, the School of Nursing and in UB courses delivered at the Singapore Institute of Management.

SW: The Office of Educational Innovation & Assessment will oversee the system. As in the past, course-evaluation data are provided to faculty members to help them understand how students view the academic experience in their courses. Further, these data have been and will continue to be used as part of the promotion and tenure process.

SW: Demos were presented during August, September and October for faculty and staff. Training materials also are available on the course evaluation system’s website.

SW: Use your UB IT name and password to log into your course evaluations — this is the same name and password you use to log into your UB email account. You can log in from any Web browser using any computer, tablet or smartphone, both on or off campus.