Online Student Survey of Teaching Opens November 21

Lou Mulligan, Interim Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Corinne Bannon, Acing Chief Data Officer for Analytics, Institutional Research, and Effectiveness
Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, 2:55 p.m.
KU Lawrence Faculty, KU Lawrence Unclassified Professional Staff, KU Graduate Teaching Assistants

Dear Instructors,

The University Student Survey of Teaching opens to students in all full semester courses on November 21. The last day to complete the survey is December 9. If you do not teach a full semester course, you can still use the guidance below to encourage increased response rates. Timelines for survey distribution, however, are automated by course end date, and may differ if you do not teach a full semester course.

Many of you have expressed concerns about low response rates for the survey. Below are some steps you can take to improve those rates. You will find additional resources about interpreting and using the survey results on the Center for Teaching Excellence and Analytics, Institutional Research, & Effectiveness (AIRE) websites.    

  • For in-person classes, announce you are reserving time in an upcoming class to complete the survey; leave the room during that time. Recognize not all students have access to a device, so ask them to email you in advance if they need an alternative arrangement.
  • For online classes, include a reminder of the survey. Using reminders in videos, assignment lists, announcements, and other communications with students is recommended.
  • In class and online, direct students to the survey link. There are three easy ways students can find the survey link:
    • In their email with the subject line “Student Surveys of Teaching;”
    • In Blackboard via a link in the course menu; and
    • In Canvas under “Account” in the Global Navigation.

Additional guidance is available under “Student communications/how to find the link to the survey” on the AIRE Student Survey Resource Page.

  • Communicate to your class this standard language based on our policy:  The student survey of teaching is an important part of teaching at KU. Participation is voluntary, but your thoughtful responses can help instructors improve their courses. Administrators also use survey results as a source of information in personnel processes like instructor teaching assignments, annual evaluation, and promotion and tenure. Instructors will have access to survey results only after final grades have been submitted, and your name will not be included in those results.
  • Communicate often to your students during the survey period. Explain the importance of completing the surveys. Tell students that you take their feedback seriously and use their responses to improve your course. You can monitor the response rates on the Response Rate tab of your Student Surveys of Teaching dashboard in your Qualtrics account.
  • Please refrain from offering incentives for completion of the survey. Until we exhaust other efforts for improving response rates and can devise a way to promote incentives in a consistent way.

Thank you for your continued feedback as we work to improve the information you receive from students.

Sincerely,

Lumen Mulligan

Interim Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs

Earl B. Shurtz Professor of Law

Corinne Bannon

Acting Chief Data Officer

Analytics, Institutional Research, and Effectiveness