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Guidelines for In-Class SAIS Administration
As mandated by the Faculty Senate, all courses taught at UT must be evaluated using one of the eleven SAIS scan forms. This includes not only classes taught by tenure-track and tenured faculty, but also GTAs, instructors, adjunct appointees, or visiting professors. Only when a course's enrollment is less than five students is the instructor not evaluated. In order to maintain students' confidentiality and to produce reports with a degree of statistical reliability, no report is generated when SAIS receives an envelope with four or fewer completed evaluation forms.
1- Preprinted Green Header
Forms A green header form must be filled out for every instructor being evaluated. If several instructors teach the same section, each must have his or her own green header form, as well as separate survey forms that are returned in a separate envelope. A preprinted green header form is provided for every course listing that appears in the SIS database. The semester/year, course #, section #, course name, department name, and department # have been completed on the preprinted green header forms. The department completes the other items on the form. The box at the top right of the green header form must be completely filled out. The green header form has been designed so that the information in this box can be read through the reusable envelope's window. The following information MUST be handwritten or typed in the box at the top of all green header forms (preprinted and blank):
The following items MUST be completed and bubbled in with A NUMBER 2 PENCIL. Be sure to fill in all the bubbles.
In addition to the information which MUST be bubbled in on ALL green header forms, the grids for the semester/year, department #, course #, and section # must be completed also when using a blank form. 3- Student Survery Forms
SAIS delivers the total number of each form requested by your department plus an extra 10 percent. The department packs these forms along with the green header form in the appropriate instructor's envelope. If you have questions about the distribution of individual forms, you should contact the representative from your department who placed the order for the forms. SAIS does not have a list for individual instructors' form requests; this information is gathered by and kept in the department. Please note: Photocopies of forms or downloaded forms from the website cannot be processed, so should you need additional forms, call (x4373) and we will send them to you. Each envelope prepared should be filled with enough of the appropriate student survey forms for every student enrolled in the section. To determine enrollment for a section, consult the department's management report. There are two potential
situations which might lead to confusion in determining the correct number
of student survey forms:
NOTICE FOR TEAM-TAUGHT CLASSES There are multiple instructors being evaluated in this class. There
is a separate envelope, set of survey forms, and green header form for
each instructor. This is envelope ____ of ____ envelopes; please use
the evaluations in this envelope to evaluate ____________________ .
(NAME OF INSTRUCTOR) In order to assure that these evaluations are accurate, hand out the
materials from this envelope, allow your classmates to complete the
evaluations, and collect these materials before opening the next envelope.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP WITH THIS IMPORTANT PROGRAM! 5- Departmental and Individual Class Items
6- Reusable Window Envelopes Every manila window envelope should contain one green header and enough student survey forms for every student enrolled in the section. For sections that have more than one instructor, prepare as many envelopes as there are instructors being evaluated. If your department is evaluating more than one instructor for a particular course you should do the following:
Many departments prepare a memo that summarizes and highlights the directions printed on the back of the envelope. Often problems with report generation can be avoided if these instructions are brought to the attention of the instructors. A sample memo is included below. 7- Sample Departmental Instruction Letter to Faculty
8- Yellow Open-Ended Student Comment Sheet The Yellow Open-Ended Student Comment Sheet is an optional form. SAIS
will provide the number of forms the department requests (if any) as
well as separate envelopes, gum-sealed and printed in blue ink, in which
to store these open-ended questions. As with the manila window-envelope,
the department prepares the gum-sealed envelope with enough yellow open-ended
student comment sheets for every student enrolled in the section. To
determine enrollment for a section, consult either the SIS list or your
own list, whichever you believe to be more accurate. The student administrator will place the completed yellow sheets in the blue and white envelope, seal it, and return it to the departmental office, along with the manila window-envelope containing the completed student scan forms. These yellow open-ended student comment sheets will NOT be returned to SAIS. The department retains the envelopes in a secure and locked place until after grades have been submitted and then distributes the envelopes to the appropriate instructor. Unless the department decides upon a different procedure, the contents of these envelopes will be known only to the instructor. No other copies will be made or retained. A copy of the Student Comment Sheet is located online.
Once a student administrator returns the manila window envelope containing completed student survey forms to your office, log the envelope in on a green and white log form. Complete the first four columns on the form, noting the instructor's name, course number, section number, and the letter of the form used. In order to facilitate SAIS's pick up of the envelopes, we ask for your cooperation in storing them in the same order in which they are logged. When an SAIS staff member comes to pick up your completed evaluation envelopes, s/he will check off the envelopes in the SAIS column, indicating which envelopes s/he has received, and circling those envelopes not received. A copy of the log will be given to you as a receipt. Having the envelopes in the same order as they are listed on the log will decrease greatly the time that the SAIS staff member is "in the way" in your office.
SAIS Reports 9- Report Delivery Two copies of the evaluation results are delivered to the departments. The department head distributes one report copy to the appropriate faculty member and retains the second copy for his or her files. One copy of the departmental and individual results will be delivered as well for those participating departments and instructors. 10- Listings of:
A listing of reports generated accompanies the reports. Normally, there should be an entry on the "Reports Printed" list to correspond with every envelope marked as received by SAIS on the log of envelopes received. If an envelope contained fewer than five completed scan forms, a report was not generated for that section, and the class will appear on the "Reports Not Printed" list. If a course section is not included on either the "Reports Printed" or "Reports Not Printed" lists, it will appear on the "Courses Not Evaluated" list. Class sections such as thesis and dissertation hours and independent study will appear on the "Not Evaluated" list. Courses for which no completed evaluation forms were included in the envelope or team-taught courses where two or more instructors were evaluated on the same form will appear also on the "Not Evaluated" list. 11- Requests for Copies of Original Evaluation
Forms and Reports If there are any questions about evaluation results, the instructor may request copies of the original scan forms, which SAIS archives for six months. Institutional Research and Assessment will provide an instructor with a replacement copy of a SAIS report beginning with the Spring 2000 semester. SAIS does not, however, receive or retain copies of the yellow open-ended student comment sheets. Departments give these sheets back to the instructor after grades have been submitted. No other copies of them are made or retained. Tennessee 101 The Student Government Association (SGA) publishes results of SAIS in Tennessee 101. Teaching Evaluations are subject to the "Tennessee Open Records Law," which says that records of state agencies are open to inspection by any citizen of the state. The UT General Counsel's Office has advised us of the following if an individual asks to view an instructor's teaching evaluations in the departmental office:
If you have any questions concerning these issues, please contact the Office of the General Counsel and Secretary at x3247.
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| Copyright ©2005 Office of Institutional Research and Assessment · 211 UT Conference Center Building · Knoxville Tennessee 37996-4122 · Email: oira.tennessee.edu · Phone: 865-974-4373 | |