Student Course and Faculty Evaluation Processes around CUNY

CUNY Colleges: The Student Course and Faculty Evaluation Program is administered at all of the campuses. The forms and the method of administering the evaluation project vary from campus to campus. Differences range from the types of forms used, the office administering the evaluation, the preparation and processing methods, scanning, reporting, and final storage of the evaluation materials.

Information gathered from eleven other campuses showed the following: Types of form(s) used: Scan form only – one campus Scan and comments in one form – seven campuses Comments only – one campus Scan and comments in separate forms – one campus No uniform form -department created form – one campus

Offices responsible for the Evaluation project: Office of Institutional Research – seven campuses Testing and Evaluation – two campuses Provost/Teacher Evaluation Department – one campus Faculty and Staff Relation – one campus

The office responsible for the project generally prepares the evaluation packets. This occurs in all of the campuses except one. At this campus, each department prepares the packets after the administering office supplies the materials. At some of the colleges the faculty members pick up and sign for the evaluation envelopes whereas at others the designated students pick them up. Once the evaluation is completed, the designated student places the evaluation forms in its corresponding envelopes; scan forms, comments forms, scan/comments. These envelopes are then delivered to the assigned drop off areas. The drop off areas range from departments, OIR, offices overseeing the evaluation project and security desks. In all campuses the packets are ultimately sent to the offices responsible for the project. These offices then review the scan sheets and prepare them for scanning. All of the campuses except one send the forms to the Information Technology department or another designated office for scanning. At most of the campuses the IT department produces summary reports and data analysis. Only two “administering offices” produces these reports. Once the summary reports are completed these are sent to the departments. At some of the campuses the comments are also forwarded to the department for distribution. The instructor receives the packet after final grades are submitted. At most of the campuses the comments are viewed upon the request of the instructor. The faculty at campuses where the forms include a comments section have generally expressed a positive response to this feature.

Following are brief descriptions of the evaluation process at some of the CUNY colleges:

1 Bronx Community College: OIR - Scan and comments forms: The evaluation packets are prepared by OIR. Instructors pick up and sign for the evaluation envelopes at the department. Instructors receive two envelopes for each course and section; one containing copies of the mandatory scan forms and another containing the voluntary “ comments” forms. Students provide their own pencils and pens. The instructor designates a student to distribute and collect the evaluation forms. Once the evaluation is completed, the designated student places the scan forms in one envelope and the comments forms in another. The department mails the scan form packet to the OIR. The comments packet remains in the departmental office until final grades are submitted. Once final grades are submitted to the Registrars’ Office, the instructor receives the comments packet. The comments are for the instructor’s use only. OIR begins scanning the forms approximately one month after the end of classes (a significant amount of time is given for the packets to be returned, packets returned after scanning and processing is completed is not processed). OIR produces the summary reports, which are then forwarded to the departments. The scan packets are then placed in storage.

CSI: OIR - Scan and comments in one form. Evaluation packets are prepared by OIR. Instructors pick up and sign for the evaluation envelopes at the department. The instructor designates a student to distribute and collect the evaluation forms. Once the evaluation is completed, the designated student places the forms in a return envelope. The envelope is then sent to the OIR. OIR sends the packets to the Information Technology department for scanning and summary report production. The evaluation packets and summary reports are then sent to the departments. The comments are used upon the request of the Instructor and/or the department. The evaluation packets are stored by each department.

Hostos Community College: OIR - Scan and comments in one form. Evaluation packets are prepared by OIR. Instructors pick up and sign for the evaluation envelopes at the department. The instructor designates a student to distribute and collect the evaluation forms. Once the evaluation is completed, the designated student places the forms in a return envelope. The envelope is sent to the OIR. OIR then take the packets to the Registrar’ Office for scanning. Once scanning is completed, OIR produces a summary report for each course and section. Summary reports are sent to the departments. The evaluation packets are kept at OIR for 2 years. Evaluation forms older than two years are kept in storage rooms. Instructors can obtain their packets at OIR to review the comments.

Hunter: Provost’s Office/Teacher Evaluation Department -Scannable and comments in one form The Teacher Evaluation department prepares the evaluation packets. Designated student come to the office with an index card listing the specifics of the course. The student is given the packet. Once the evaluation is completed, the student returns the packet to the

2 office. The staff review the scan sheets and prepare them for scanning. The packets are sent to Information Technology for scanning. IT produces individual and departmental summaries. Packets are returned to the departments, where the instructors and chairpersons can review the comments. The evaluation packets are kept at the department. Overall the faculty members have expressed positive responses for the comments feature.

Baruch College: Presently Scan form only Administered by the Office of Testing and Evaluation

Preparation: Each semester and during the summer sessions, The Office of Testing and Evaluation (OTE) generates a file of all the courses listed on the Registration System for which an evaluation is to be conducted. Course Master lists are sent to the Chairs of each department for review and modification. Once the course master lists are returned to OTE, modifications are updated on the file. The evaluation packets are prepared for each instructor and course to be evaluated. The evaluation packets include the faculty evaluation Release Form, the evaluation scan forms, a return envelope for the materials, and pencils. (Pencils are not provided for each student registered in the class, but rather for students who may not have one at the time the evaluation is conducted). A week before the evaluation period, the evaluation packets are delivered to the academic departments. During this time departments are asked to review their packets and contact OTE if they are do not have all the necessary packets.

Administration: During the evaluation period, the instructors pick up their evaluation packets from the departments. The instructor assigns a student to conduct the evaluation. The instructor fills out the release form indicating whether or not he wants the evaluation information to be released and signs the form. He either returns the form as part of the evaluation packet or sends the form to OTE by mail. The four-digit registration code for the course is indicated on the “Blackboard” “Whiteboard”. Students must fill in this code on the evaluation form. The student coordinator assigned to conduct the evaluation is responsible for administering the evaluation when the instructor leaves the room. The student coordinator distributes the evaluation forms and pencils. The forms are completed and the student coordinator collects the forms and pencils and puts them in the return envelope. The student coordinator seals and signs the envelope. The envelope is then dropped off in designated boxes at the security desk in each building where classes are held. Boxes are placed overnight in the Security Office.

Processing: Each day during the evaluation period the staff from OTE pick up the evaluation boxes from the Security Office and bring them to OTE. The evaluation packets are opened and recorded as received. A notation is made indicating whether the evaluation was completed or not. The used scan forms are separated from the unused forms. The pencils are removed from the packets. The release forms are removed from the packets and are

3 sorted into two categories: release and do not release. The four-digit code on each form is checked to verify that it matches the four- digit code on the envelope. If codes do not match, they are corrected. The packets are sorted by departments, and the scan forms are prepared for scanning. Once the evaluation period has ended and all the forms are ready for scanning, the scanning process begins.

Scanning: Scanning is done by the staff of OTE in OTE. Scan forms are removed from the packet, scanned and returned to the packet. Once the packet is scanned a notation is made on the course master file that the packet was scanned and the packet is then placed in a box labeled by department. Once all the evaluation packets are scanned, the scan data is downloaded.

Production of the evaluation reports and data files: The downloaded data is then reviewed. Each set of data string is reviewed for unrecognizable characters. Unrecognizable characterized are modified and the data is then loaded to an Access database. Once all the data is corrected and loaded on the Access database, the data is checked to verify the number of responses and the number of students registered in the class. In cases where the number of responses are greater than the number of students registered, these packets are pulled. The number of completed evaluation forms are counted and identified, the instructor is contacted and the number is verified. Once this is done the evaluation reports are printed. Each department receives two sets of evaluations; one for their records and one for the instructor, the Dean of each school receives the evaluation reports for all of the instructors in his or her school. The Vice President for Student Development receives the reports of all the instructors for whom evaluation reports were generated. An electronic file is provided to any department/school that request data for analysis. A file is also created using the information of those instructors who authorize the release of their data. This file is then sent to the Office of Student Life for loading onto the website.

Storing the Evaluation Packets: Once all the evaluation reports are distributed the boxes with the evaluation packets are put in storage on campus. Each box of evaluation is labeled. The department(s) and semester are indicated.

NOTE: Baruch is the only college within CUNY in which the entire evaluation process is conducted by a single office/department. This decreases the opportunity for breaches in security and eliminates security issues. It also ensures that there are fewer opportunities for error to occur.

PROPOSED: One scan form and one comments form.

4 The process will remain the same except that there will be a comments packet which will be held at OTE or a designated Office until the deadline for the final grades have expired and the packets will them be sent to the faculty.

NON –CUNY Colleges:

The student course and faculty evaluation programs of eight random non-CUNY colleges were also reviewed. Information was obtained from the colleges’ websites. All eight colleges have evaluation instruments, which include a section for students’ comments. The instructor and the Chairperson or Dean of the department reviews by the instructors, and in some institutions the comments as well.

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