4.3 Summative Student Opinion Data

4.3.1 Policy on Collecting Summative Student Opinion Data

On May 3, 1995, the Joint Faculty Assembly adopted a policy on the collection of Summative Student Opinion Data.  The following principles and practices of collecting summative student opinion data were adopted.

4.3.1.1 Principles

Instructors gather opinion about their teaching and student learning to ensure continued professional development.

Student opinion is but one part of a larger body of evidence that instructors present in support of their requests for retention, promotion and tenure.

4.3.1.2 Practices

4.3.1.2.1 Required Survey Questions

All instructors must include the following five questions as part of whatever form they use to collect information from students.  The first two questions provide the context for understanding the final three:

1)   My desire to enroll in this course was

                 A                      B                      C                      D                      E

         very strong          strong           moderate            weak            very weak

2)   The learning goals and objectives of this course were

                 A                      B                      C                      D                      E

         very strong          strong           moderate            weak            very weak

3)   Overall, in this course I learned

                 A                      B                      C                      D                      E

      an exceptional       a good         an average            little              very little

            amount            amount            amount

4)   Overall, I rate this course to be

                 A                      B                      C                      D                      E

           excellent         very good            good                  fair                  poor 

5)   Overall, I rate my instructor in this course to be

                 A                      B                      C                      D                      E

           excellent         very good            good                  fair                  poor

For some courses, departments may create and validate useful ways of gathering additional information that best suit their curricular goals.

Instructors may design supplemental survey questions that evaluate their course and teaching effectiveness.

4.3.1.2.2 Timing

Instructors should collect summative information from students within the last two cycles of the semester, or in the last week of a mod or team-taught course.  Students should not be surveyed during the last class period. 

4.3.1.2.3 Frequency

Non-tenured faculty must do summative evaluations for all classes each semester unless they teach more than three classes per semester.  In that case, they are only required to administer three course evaluations per semester.  Tenured faculty should administer three evaluations per year.

4.3.1.2.4 Survey Administration

Student opinion surveys should be administered by someone other than the instructor or the department chair.  Surveys will be counted and held in the Registrar’s Office at Saint John’s University and the Instructional Development Office at the College of Saint Benedict until final grades are turned in, and will be processed at the faculty member’s request.

4.3.1.2.5 Raw Data Results

The raw data will be considered the property of the faculty person.  Because the purpose of this data collection is to track individual growth, this information is not to be used in statistical analyses comparing faculty members with each other.  Faculty members should be encouraged to identify and analyze patterns in their student evaluations across time.