Course Instructor Surveys will be electronic (eCIS) for Spring 2020. This has obviously been a challenging semester, so it’s even more important to communicate with your students about the survey process to get the most meaningful feedback possible from them. Soliciting written student comments is extremely important to faculty who are either tenure-track or contemplating promotion of any kind. We recently learned that Brent Iverson from the President’s Tenure and Promotion Committee reads every single student comment in each file. Please carefully review the following information:
- Go to MyCIS first to review your courses to be surveyed and the survey forms indicated for Spring 2020. For faculty teaching organized academic courses, we have selected the B101 (Basic-Covid) form. If any changes to the forms are needed, email Stephen Wray sjw@austin.utexas.edu by this deadline: Wednesday, April 22, 2020.
- The B101 (Basic-Covid) form has two additional open-ended questions at the end of the survey, as follows:
Please share feedback about your course experience (for example, lectures, course communication, assignments, etc.) before the course transitioned online.
Please share feedback about your course experience (for example, lectures, course communication, assignments, etc.) after the course transitioned online.
While these questions won’t be printed in the Basic + Applied Music/Ensemble Supplement form (B145), if YOU use this form, at the time surveys are made available to students on April 30, we encourage you to communicate with your students, provide them these questions, and ask for their feedback in the general comments section.
- To view sample survey questionnaires for forms B101 (Basic-Covid), B145, E100, E145, SO50, and SO68, please see Survey Options.
- Survey dates for Spring 2020 (different than previous semesters): Thursday, April 30 to Monday, May 11, 2020 at noon.
- Individual instruction survey results, including the numerical totals and comments, for a faculty member will be combined automatically for electronic surveys after the survey period ends, as long as the same survey form is used for each individual instruction course. This aims to increase anonymity for students in low-enrolled individual instruction courses.
- Performance faculty and perf. TAs: For private lesson courses taught by TAs, e.g., Instr/Voi 201, MUS 115F, etc., these will be listed UNDER THE FACULTY MEMBER’S NAME but with the TA form SO68 as the default form. To differentiate, the TA's students should indicate the TA's name in the survey comments section.
- Academic, non-performance faculty (except Composition): If you want to allow your students in independent study/directed research/reading, etc. (individual instruction), to submit electronic surveys for you, you must let Stephen W. know by the April 22 deadline. Otherwise, your default for these students is no survey.
- Strategies to improve your rate of return:
- Before the survey period, discuss with your students the uses for, and importance of, student feedback on the survey.
- When the survey period begins on April 30, applied music and ensemble teachers should contact their students and ask them to answer the “before and after” questions in the comments section of the survey. Before April 30, we will send you a sample email to use/edit as you wish.
- During the survey period, send reminder messages to your students about the importance of their evaluations.
- If you are teaching a synchronous class, utilize a portion of online class time to provide students a dedicated time for them to complete their electronic surveys. Please remember that no faculty/AIs/TAs are to be present while students are completing their surveys, so you will need to ask students to mute both their audio and video while they fill out the survey.
- Include the direct link to the electronic survey in your messaging to students:https://utdirect.utexas.edu/ctl/ecis/index.WBX.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding eCIS, email Stephen W. sjw@austin.utexas.edu on or before April 22, 2020. Thanks for your help with this important process.
Updated 4/14/20