Special Student Course Evaluation for Spring 2020

Sent on behalf of Vice Provost for Faculty Development Chris Brown

Dear instructors,

This week, you should receive an e-mail notification that end-of-semester course surveys soon will be open online to your students. As Provost Bichelmeyer announced earlier this semester, all in-person and hybrid courses that moved online this semester and were not already part of established online programs will use a special evaluation survey developed by a diverse faculty task force specifically for this semester.

This brief survey is intended to gather feedback about students’ experiences in each course. A copy of the special survey is attached. It consists of four open-ended questions.

After the semester has ended and final grade-submission deadlines have passed, instructors will receive access to their results and a file copy will be provided to the department. Please note that although the results from the student survey will be included in personnel files, the results will state that Spring 2020 feedback should be used only for informational and developmental purposes – not for annual evaluation, PTTR, P&T, or PTR.

To facilitate the survey process, the Provost Office provides the following guidance:

• All in-person and hybrid courses, except Thesis/Dissertation hours, will receive the special survey questions regardless of the regular survey method used by the academic unit.
• Courses with fewer than five students will not have a report produced unless results are combined with another course, to protect student anonymity.
• Pre-existing online programs will still receive their regular evaluation survey questions since they experienced fewer disruptions to their semester. 
• Short courses that had already been evaluated are not affected by any changes.
• Instructors should receive an email notification during the week of April 20th with a link for checking survey open and close dates.  It will also include a link to check response rates while the survey is open to students.
• The survey will be open to students for the last two weeks of the semester before final exams.
• Students will receive automated email reminders of the survey. They will be able to access the surveys via a link on Blackboard or use the link sent in the email reminders.

The Provost Office recommends that instructors send a personal message to students explaining the importance of completing the survey. A Blackboard announcement, in addition to instructor email, is also recommended.

For assistance with student course surveys, please contact Laura Moley, lmoley@ku.edu or 785-864-1429, who administers evaluation surveys for our campuses. 

J. Christopher Brown, Ph.D.
Professor
Geography and Atmospheric Science
Environmental Studies Program
Vice Provost for Faculty Development