Project Background
Through a collaborative and consultative campus process documented on the Academic Senate website, SF State selected a locally-hosted Scantron ClassClimate software system as the technical means to implement the existing Academic Senate course evaluation policies for course evaluation. The primary goals for moving from a paper-based to online system for administering course evaluations include:
- rich and timely feedback on the student educational experience
- accessibility for students with disabilities
- parity for fully online classes
- environmental sensitivity and cost effectiveness
- improved efficiencies for faculty, students and staff
Implementation Planning
Ratified in fall of 2012, Article 15.15 of the new CFA Collective Bargaining Agreement requires student evaluations of all courses, which may be provided in written or electronic (online) form. Each CSU campus was encouraged to use its own internal governance structure to determine whether its campus would implement either online or paper-based evaluations, or a mix of both.
The goal of the Student Evaluations of Teaching Effectiveness (SETE) project (Formerly known as the Online Course Evaluation Project), therefore, was to facilitate a governance process that would lead the campus to a decision with respect to electronic or paper-based evaluations. Regardless of the mix of methods used to collect course evaluation data, all data would be stored and managed within the Scantron ClassClimate system the campus had previously chosen. There were, therefore, three aspects to this OCE project:
- Policy review and alignment, with respect to Academic Senate policy and Departmental Retention, Tenure and Promotion policies
- Business process development and implementation, with respect to coordinating the logistical process of soliciting, creating and administering course evaluation surveys, and
- Technical implementation of the existing policies using the Scantron ClassClimate software system, which will be hosted locally.
To this aim, the OCE Task Force met regularly during 2012-2013 to coordinate the various aspects of this project and engage campus stakeholders, as appropriate to each of their roles.
Student Evaluations of Teaching Effectiveness Steering Committee
- Michael Goldman, Academic Senate Chair
- Academic Senate Policy
- Carleen Mandolfo, AVP of Faculty Affairs
- Retention, Tenure and Promotion Policy Coordination and Communication
- Andrew Roderick, Asst. VP, Academic Technology
- Business Process & Technical Implementation
- Cristian Alvarado, AT Services Lead
- Technical Implementation