Near the end of each semester at UMN Morris, a student rating survey is undertaken as part of faculty evaluation and development.
Student ratings of teaching effectiveness are solicited for all regularly scheduled courses and the results become part of the documentation needed to arrive at recommendations for promotion, tenure, and salary adjustments and for faculty improvement of teaching. The following procedures will govern the administration of the survey.
- The student rating survey is normally conducted during the 13th to 15th week of regular classes each semester (or 6th to 7th week for half-semester courses).
- The standard Student Rating of Teaching Forms for each course will be sent to division offices. Faculty are welcome to create additional survey forms, but no questions on these forms may in any way endanger student anonymity. Faculty constructing additional forms need to give these to their division office in a timely fashion to provide adequate preparation time. Division secretaries will prepare an envelope for each course for the standard forms; faculty are responsible for preparation of an envelope for additional materials. Faculty who wish to have the completed surveys reviewed for inappropriate or irrelevant content discussed in #6 below (i.e., sexist, racist or harassing comments) will notify the division secretary at this time. The division secretary will mark the appropriate course envelopes.
- The name of the course, five digit course number and instructor along with the actual enrollment in the class at the time of the survey must be written on the course envelope(s). Double-listed courses are combined under one entry rather than having separate enrollments listed. For courses that are team taught, separate evaluations are conducted for each faculty member.
- The survey is to be conducted on a day chosen by the instructor during the time frame indicated in #1 above. The instructor cannot be present when the survey forms are being completed by the students. It is recommended that at least 15 minutes be allocated at the beginning or end of the class session. A student volunteer from the course will be asked to pick up the forms from the division offices on the day the survey is to be conducted. The student volunteer in each class should read aloud the following statement: Your responses to this questionnaire are important because they will be used in tenure, promotion, and salary decisions for your instructor. While you are not required to complete the evaluation, your thoughtful written comments are especially requested, and may help your instructor improve future course offerings. The first six questions on this questionnaire are uniform throughout the University of Minnesota System and mandated by the University Senate. The results of this evaluation (including the evaluation forms) will not be returned to the instructor until after the final grades are submitted for this course. If a student is concerned about his or her anonymity, that person should contact the faculty member's Division chair and communicate his or her evaluation anonymously. Remarks inappropriate to an evaluation form, such as harassing comments or comments on irrelevant factors, may cause the form to be discarded. The student volunteer will then distribute the forms to each student present, and return them to the Division Office after all the students have completed the survey.
- The division secretary will send the completed forms to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean for tabulation preparation, with one exception. The course envelopes to be reviewed for inappropriate or irrelevant comments will be sent to the Faculty Consultative Committee. The Faculty Consultative Committee, or its designated representative(s), will review the forms it receives in a timely manner and discard forms containing student remarks about an instructor's personal appearance, racist or sexist comments, statements or drawings constituting sexual harassment, or other inappropriate or irrelevant factors. The Faculty Consultative Committee will mark the number of remaining forms on the course envelopes and send them to the Dean’s Office. After the forms have been processed, they will be returned to the division offices.
- The surveys are confidential, open only to the evaluated faculty member and to those University officers (faculty or staff) directly involved in his or her tenure, promotion, and salary review. Every effort is made to safeguard confidentiality, for students and faculty, throughout the evaluation process.
- Student Release Questions: These questions were selected by the Student Senate to provide future students with information about the course. Responses to these questions may not be used in any reappointment, promotion, salary or (for tenure-track) tenure decisions. Later in the semester, individual instructors will be asked for their consent to release this information to students.