Approved by University Senate, May 8, 1996
Student Evaluation of Teaching and Learning
Preamble:
To define expectations regarding student course evaluations at the University of Oregon, especially as they relate to annual faculty reviews and the promotion, tenure and post-tenure review process.
Certain aspects of teaching, such as the ability to create a positive learning environment, are appropriately and necessarily assessed through student evaluations. Evaluations provided by students can be effectively used by all faculty to gain insight into their teaching, and to identify ways to improve their classroom performance. Evaluative data provided by students include 1) results from quantitative questionnaires and 2) signed, written student evaluations.
University Assembly legislation of December 6, 1978 pertaining to student evaluations is hereby repealed effective July 1, 1996.
I. Quantitative Student Evaluation of Teaching
1. Quantitative questionnaires shall be used to evaluate all courses taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty with enrollments greater than 10 students.
2. The statistical analysis of course evaluations shall include the mean raw scores for all questions relevant to teaching and learning. The report shall include raw mean scores for the faculty member and the department. It shall also include other valid mechanisms which compare each course and/or instructor to composite scores of the entire department. Where feasible, departments are strongly encouraged to include raw scores and comparators to course offerings of similar size and level, and/or to the same or similar courses in recent years.
3. Departments are responsible for constructing and administering their own student evaluation forms; departments are encouraged to construct questionnaires consisting of a relatively small number of questions addressing the important components of teaching in the particular discipline. The only university-wide requirement is that all questionnaires must include at least the following two questions:
a) In comparison to other courses of this size and level, how do you evaluate this course?
b) In comparison to other instructors teaching courses of this size and level, how do you evaluate this instructor?
Data from these two questions are to be made centrally available to students.
4. Students shall be clearly informed, either verbally or through instructions on the quantitative questionnaire, that results of their evaluation play an important role in faculty development, in future promotion and tenure decisions and in post-tenure reviews.
II. Written Student Evaluation of Teaching and Learning
1. Written comments shall be solicited from students in all courses, regardless of enrollment size.
2. Students shall be clearly informed, either verbally or through instructions on the form used for written comments, that results of their evaluation play an important role in faculty development, in future promotion and tenure decisions and in post-tenure reviews. The forms must indicate that only signed evaluations may be used in promotion/tenure and post-tenure reviews. (ORS 351.065 (f) (g)).
3. The forms used for student comments shall clearly state that the faculty member responsible for the course will have access to the written comments, but only after the grades for the course have been submitted.
III. Procedure for Administration and Use of Student Evaluations.
1. All final course evaluations are to be conducted either in class during dead week, or during the period of time allocated to the final examination.
2. Evaluations are to be conducted by a person other than the faculty member. The faculty member must not be present during the evaluation.
3. Students must be given sufficient time to complete quantitative questionnaires and write evaluative comments if they desire.
4. Upon completion of the evaluation, all forms (quantitative and written) must immediately be returned to the department office.
5. Forms containing written comments are to be sorted into signed and unsigned groups. The signed forms are to be copied for use by the department.
6. After grades have been submitted and the computer analysis of the quantitative questionnaires has been completed, the results of the quantitative evaluation, the original signed written evaluations, and all unsigned evaluations are returned to the faculty member. (ORS 351.065 (f)(g))
7. The department archives the statistical results and the copies of signed written evaluations for use in future faculty evaluations.
8. One copy of the statistical results of each course evaluated shall be placed in the permanent personnel file of the person being evaluated.
9. All materials related to the evaluation of teaching are to be included as supplementary materials in the promotion and tenure file, and are to be carefully reviewed at the department and school/college level.
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