A Fact Sheet
for Departmental Leadership and Support Staff
Beginning in the fall
semester 2011, the Student Feedback Survey (SFS) process will move online for all organized courses, i.e., those
officially designated as lecture, seminar, and lab. There will be no paper survey forms.
Below is an
overview of the SFS implementation process as it applies to fall and spring
courses following a standard 15-week schedule. Steps that require specific
attention by the academic units are indicated with a star.
Courses offered on a non-standard schedule
(dynamically-dated classes, AP classes, many classes at the Santa Fe Center,
etc.) will be managed on a separate schedule (to be determined). Regardless of
specific dates, the sequence of steps given below will be followed.
| When? | Who? | What? | |
|
Weeks preceding academic term |
Chairs/Deans |
Verify the instruction type for each course in MyMav: lecture, thesis, lab, etc. If changes are required, process via the unit’s curriculum committee. |
|
Weeks preceding academic term |
Chairs/Deans |
Enter course data into MyMav, including instructor(s), instructor status (primary/secondary), workload percentages, begin date, end date, etc. |
First Monday of October/March |
IRP&E Staff |
Pull a report from MyMav of courses without instructors assigned; report this information to the academic units. |
|
|
First Wednesday of October/March |
Chairs/Deans |
Update MyMav records so that all courses have instructors assigned to them. |
|
First Wednesday of October/March |
SFS Team ↔ Unit Staff |
Request from units a list of courses for which a) there are multiple instructors and b) the instructors wish to be evaluated individually. |
 |
Second Monday of October / March |
SFS Team |
Using MyMav data, begin creating Student Feedback Surveys for all courses; hold in reserve until issue date. |
|
First Monday of November / April |
Vice Provost |
Notify all faculty members about impending deployment of the SFS process (via faculty listserv). |
|
2 weeks before last day of class |
SFS Team |
Issue e-mail messages to all students (via MavMail) inviting them to complete the SFS; the e-mail message includes a hyperlink to the survey site and a unique password to access the corresponding survey. |
|
1 week before |
SFS Team |
Issue reminders to all students who have not yet responded to the survey. |
|
Last day of class, |
SFS Team |
Close all SFS surveys. |
|
Up to 4 weeks after term |
SFS Team |
Verify data; prepare reports for faculty. |
|
Up to 8 weeks after term |
SFS Team |
Issue departmental compilations for chairs / support staff. |
Because of
changes in the SFS process, we are asking each unit to reconsider which member
of its staff should serve as the SFS contact. This individual should be the one
who is responsible for entering and updating course information in MyMav: instructor assignments, start/end dates, etc. Please
be prepared to provide this information when it is requested in an e-mail
message on Thursday, August 18.
Anticipated
Questions
1.
Q: Should we expect to receive paper surveys to
administer to students during class, just as we have done in the past?
A:
No. End-of-semester
feedback for all courses will now be collected electronically. We will
no longer use paper forms.
2.
Q: My dean or chair has told me to issue paper evaluations
to the faculty. Does this survey replace the online SFS?
A:
No. The online SFS is the university’s primary feedback instrument. Colleges,
schools, and departments may conduct an addition survey, provided that faculty
and students are informed that any such survey is supplemental.
3.
Q: What does my unit have to do so that students
will know when to complete a Student Feedback Survey online?
A:
Nothing – provided that you have ensured that the data entered into MyMav are accurate.
The Central Administration will
communicate directly with every student enrolled in each course via MavMail. The Office of the Provost will also maintain
contact with the faculty about the SFS process.
4.
Q: How will students know that they’re supposed to
complete a Student Feedback Survey online?
A:
Every student enrolled in
each course will receive an e-mail message from the “UT Arlington Student
Feedback Survey” team informing him/her about the survey, including a hyperlink
to the survey for a particular course and a unique password allowing access to
the survey questions.
5.
Q: Is there a central website where students can
access all of their Student Feedback Surveys at once?
A:
No. Invitations to complete feedback surveys are issued directly to the students via an e-mail message to their MavMail account. When a
student completes and submits responses for a course, the software provides two
options: to exit the SFS system or to enter the password for accessing the survey
for another course.
6.
Q: If a student takes more than one course in a
term, will that student receive multiple SFS messages?
A:
Yes. Students
will receive one e-mail message for each course in which they are enrolled this
term. Each of these messages includes a unique password for each of the
different course surveys to be completed.
7.
Q: What if students don’t check their MavMail? Will they be notified by alternate means?
A:
No, not directly. The information necessary to access the SFS for a course will
appear only in the e-mail sent to the student’s address ending in ‘mavs.uta.edu’.
We are pursuing additional means to
encourage student participation in the SFS program, including a public
awareness campaign. We will also be relying on faculty members to announce the
opening of the SFS process for each term and to remind/encourage students to complete
the survey.
8.
Q: Are the professors allowed to encourage
students to complete the survey?
A:
Yes, so
long as they do not offer students any sort of reward or inducement for
participating.
9.
Q: Two professors in my unit are team-teaching a course. Will student fill out separate
surveys for both?
A:
Yes, provided that you provide us with a list of all such courses. We will ask for
those lists at mid-term.
10.
Q: If a student misses the deadline for completing
the survey, can a new survey be issued?
A:
No. All
surveys must be completed during the time frame specified in the invitation
e-mail.
11.
Q: Will professors be able to connect a student’s
survey responses with his/her identity?
A:
No. When a student submits his/her survey online, those responses are anonymously
combined with those provided by others in the course.
12.
Q: When will the professors receive their SFS
results?
A:
Four to six weeks after
final grades have been posted.
13.
Q: When will the academic units (chairs and AAs)
receive the SFS results for all of their faculty members?
A:
Five to eight weeks after
final grades have been posted.
