School of Nursing: Standard On Review Of Student Course And Teaching Evaluations

Unit Standard

Title

School of Nursing: Standard On Review Of Student Course And Teaching Evaluations

Introduction

Purpose

To be evaluated at next review.

Scope

To be evaluated at next review.

Standard

Preamble and Guiding Principles

The School of Nursing is committed to excellence in carrying out all aspects of the educational mission. As part of this commitment, procedures have been established to assess quality and identify opportunities for improvement in all course offerings and in teaching. Sources of data on course and teaching quality come from both students and faculty peers. It is School of Nursing policy that students have an opportunity to evaluate all courses and learning opportunities. Student course evaluations provide essential information on the quality of instructional and curricular offerings to faculty, course coordinators, program executive committees, program directors and School of Nursing administrators. Teaching evaluations are equally as important and provide essential information to faculty and administration as faculty progress in their career as teachers. Where possible, data from student course and teaching evaluations are used to support decision-making and ongoing improvements. Faculty should be made aware of issues and concerns that students have raised. The intent is to identify situations where improvements may be needed as early as possible and to assist faculty and administrators in finding resources to assist them in improving their courses and their teaching. The procedures for distribution and systematic review of student course and teaching evaluations have been established to provide a mechanism for monitoring the quality of instructional offerings and ongoing evaluation of programs and curricula while preserving confidentiality of data on faculty and students.

Policy and Procedures

Student course and teaching evaluations are administered through IIT using established procedures and software. When course evaluations close at the end of each semester, results are distributed electronically to Faculty and Administration. Evaluation data are reviewed systematically according to the following procedures.

1. Student course evaluations are distributed to the course coordinator (who may share with the faculty member(s) who taught the course), the Division Head of the faculty member, the appropriate Program Director, and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The grid illustrates the distribution of evaluation results.

   	Teaching Evaluation	Clinical Evaluations	Course Evaluations
   Faculty member who does classroom teaching	Evaluations of classes they teach.
   Faculty Member who supervises clinical group		Evaluations for clinical sections they supervise
   Course Coordinator	Evaluations of faculty teaching in the course (BSN, MSN courses only)	Evaluations of faculty teaching clinical in the course (BSN, MSN courses).	Evaluations for courses they coordinate. Coordinators share with course faculty (all courses).
   Program Directors			Course evaluations for all courses in their program. Program directors share with Program Executive Committees.
   Division Head	Evaluations for faculty in their division.	Evaluations for faculty in their division	Evaluation for courses when coordinator in their division
   Associate Dean Academic Affairs			All Evaluations

2. Student evaluations of teaching are distributed to the faculty member, the Division Head, and course coordinators for BSN and MSN courses (not PhD courses). These evaluations will be treated confidentially and discussed at annual evaluations between division chairs and individual faculty or sooner if appropriate. The evaluation data will be used for mentoring purposes and the identification of faculty development recommendations as appropriate.
3. Faculty have an approved process for evaluation of the research advising process. Due to the nature of research advising, and the need to protect student and faculty identities in the evaluation of research experiences, a special evaluation form has been designed for the evaluation of this experience. Students complete and submit the evaluation form to the Office of Academic Affairs after completion of their research requirement. These evaluations are aggregated by Program Directors on an annual basis and presented for review by the appropriate Program Executive Committee.
4. The Office of Academic Affairs will prepare course summaries in a matrix format for all courses in a specific program. These summaries will present means, ranges, and number of respondents for all standard evaluation items as well as the overall course mean. Faculty will not be named in any summary data.
5. The course summaries will be distributed to the appropriate Program Director who will present the summaries for discussion at BEC, MEC, DEC, program leaders, and master's program AP coordinator meetings as appropriate. Program directors will also share overall semester summaries (averages over all program courses in a given semester) with course coordinators if requested.
6. The course summaries will also be reviewed by the Academic Affairs Council to benchmark the data over time. The purpose of this review is to monitor overall quality of instruction and to identify situations where additional evaluation of a course or changes in teaching assignments may be needed.
7. When review of the evaluation data reveals issues with a particular course or faculty member, the Division Head and the Program Director will meet to assess whether it is a curricular issue or a performance issue. If a curricular issue, the matter will be referred to the appropriate Program Executive Committee. If a performance issue, the Division Head will meet with the faculty member to discuss the matter. The Division Head and faculty member will discuss developmental needs and/or potential improvements that might be needed. A plan will be developed and will be addressed in the annual faculty review. When necessary, issues can be referred to the Academic Dean for assistance or further assessment.
8. When students have individual issues with or complaints about a course, they will be instructed to meet with the course instructor or coordinator to discuss the matter. If this is unsatisfactory from the student's perspective, they will be advised to meet with the program director. The program director will determine whether referral or further discussion is warranted with either the appropriate Division Head or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
9. Program Executive Committees or the Academic Affairs Council may commission focus groups with students to gain insights about particular aspects of a curriculum or overall program effectiveness. The facilitator of these focus groups will be appointed by the appropriate Committee or Council and will be selected based on their objectivity and understanding of the underlying issues. Summary notes of the focus group will be prepared by the facilitator and will be shared with the requesting Committee or Council. Under no circumstances will faculty or student names be recorded.
10. Faculty members are expected to retain all copies of their course and teaching evaluations for future use, such as PRAAG reviews and annual evaluations.

Exceptions

N/A

Contact Information

Primary Contact

Carol Durham, Faculty Chair

Important Dates

• Effective Date and title of Approver: 4/14/2003 approved by the faculty
• Revised: 10/10/2004 approved by faculty
• Revised: 06/25/2008