EvaluationKIT Clarification
EvaluationKIT
There have been questions and concern around the EvaluationKIT course evaluation process being instituted through Canvas. Please let me reassure you this is not intended to evaluate faculty performance outside the collective agreement.
December 18th 2018 Erin hall provided us with the following announcement on behalf of Dean’s council;
On behalf of the Course evaluation tool selection committee:
Hello colleagues,
Today, we are excited to announce that we will be adopting a brand new course evaluation tool in the new year that will change the way students are able to share information with us.
After much consultation and research, an inter-disciplinary committee has chosen EvaluationKIT as our new course evaluation tool, replacing Scantron Class Climate. This decision is endorsed by Deans’ Council. The benefits are tremendous and will allow more students to share more information about their experiences than ever before.
The lead benefit is that EvaluationKIT integrates seamlessly with Canvas, which will allow students to provide feedback through a platform they are familiar with and use on a frequent basis. Class Climate only allowed us to reach students through email and response rates had dropped to a level that, in some cases, made the information we gathered nearly statistically irrelevant.
EvaluationKIT also allows more flexibility in the way we survey students. We will be able to continue asking benchmark questions of all students across campus, but instructors will also have the ability to individually style the survey to ask questions important to them. This will create a more holistic feedback process that will benefit every instructor in our institution.
Switching to EvaluationKIT also presents an opportunity to update our course evaluation questionnaires and processes. Over the next year, Deans’ Council will carefully consider how to make improvements to better utilize our course evaluations to support excellence in teaching and learning. We look forward to hearing your feedback and input, and will provide updates as we progress.
Deans’ Council would like to acknowledge the incredible work of the administrative staff of our academic centres, who spent significant time and effort deploying Class Climate evaluations over the years. A very important benefit of EvaluationKIT’s integration with Canvas is that it will reduce administrative time significantly, allowing our centre staff to focus attention on other areas. The administration of the course evaluation process will now be centralized in Institutional Planning, rather than within each individual centre. This is a common structure in post-secondary and will create efficiencies. CTLI will also play a critical role in both the Canvas integration and technical administration.
Keep in mind that nothing will change for this semester. We are targeting the Winter 2019 semester for its implementation and instructors will receive training materials in the new year, so keep an eye out for further updates. We recognize this will be a large change, but we are so excited about the possibilities and wanted to let you know with plenty of time to ask questions and learn about the new tool before it is implemented.
In the meantime, we thank you for your commitment to our students and how each of you strive to provide the best possible learning environment for them.
Sincerely,
Deans’ Council
At regular meetings between the Faculty Executive and the Executive Leadership Team the issue was raised. We agreed that information on student perception of classes or programs could be valuable in program development and reviews. Faculty members at the table suggested they would appreciate access to the information which ELT heartily endorsed. It was the understanding at that point, on the part of both ELT and Faculty executive, that the program was well designed and would provide excellent feedback.
A key point in this discussion was that course evaluations are separate from Instructor evaluations. There was discussion about ensuring the questions reflect this by focusing on such things as facilities, curriculum, materials, and scheduling. It became apparent that some of the discussion had to recognize the importance of instruction in a course evaluation focusing on things like face to face compared to distance, so there would be some questions that could reflect on that portion of the student experience.
Initially student surveys used an abbreviated version of the existing questionnaire, but that survey was very focused on instruction and removing questions that applied directly to the instructor limited the value, so a new set of questions was developed with course evaluation as the key focus. The intent being each course will be evaluated using the modified survey but the original survey would be used in an evaluation year.
There were many people from different areas of the college involved in this process. A course evaluation tool selection committee started the process. Deans council and Associate Deans provided input. Institutional Planning provided leadership while the Center for Teaching and Learning helped with the Canvas deployment. Somewhere along the way which survey was to be used was confused and it appears the wrong survey may have been attached. Keep in mind that any individual who is in an evaluation year should have received the survey as circulated. There is not now, nor was there ever, any intention to bypass the collective agreement.
Now moving forward, those who are in an evaluation year will have the information they need to proceed and need do nothing different. Those not in an evaluation year have a few options on how you want to proceed with the information that was gathered.
Some faculty have requested to be in an evaluation year to their Dean so they can use the information for this year.
You can choose to ignore the information and move on (the information will not be destroyed or used against you).
You can request to see it and do nothing with it.
In the upcoming semester the correct surveys will be attached to each course and the process can move forward as planned.
Thank You for your patience and understanding.
If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact Dr. Samantha Lenci, Provost and Vice President Academic and/or Kevin Wiber, LCFA President and Chair - Crooks School of Transportation.