Faculty responsibilities

Instructors have a significant impact on how students interact with a course, which influences how well they learn. How instructors interact with students and facilitate learning activities can help or hinder learning. SET can help instructors identify areas for improvement and areas of strength that can be used to develop future course assignments.

Faculty resources

Online evaluation processing

Early in the semester, we advise instructors to check and ensure all of your courses are listed, the correct instructor is noted, and the evaluation dates are correct. Now would be the time to contact your departmental SET coordinator with any questions.

The departmental SET coordinator then reviews which courses should or should not be evaluated, that the appropriate instructor is identified for the course, and the evaluation period is correct.

Evaluation period

New Feature: The SET Committee has granted faculty members the flexibility to modify their evaluation period.
See the Faculty date adjustments guide for instructions.
If you require support with these adjustments, your departmental SET coordinator is your resource for information and questions concerning the evaluation period.
Be sure your evaluation period does not extend into finals and grades have not been posted.
Give your students advance notice of your evaluation session so they will know when to expect their course survey.

Need a report?

Contact your departmental SET proxy, and they can retrieve a report for you. If you do not have a designated SET proxy, complete a technical support request and a SET team member will assist you.

Response rate dashboard

Faculty may schedule class time for students to complete their course survey and track the overall response rate in real-time via the response rate dashboard (enter AccessID and password). Use your response rate dashboard to view your course response rates during SET administration periodically.

Instructor-supplied supplemental questions

If you want to tailor questions to your specific teaching approach and circumstances, please consider designing up to ten additional questions and distributing them to students before the evaluation period begins. Instruct students to enter their responses in the Instructor Supplied Items section of online SET. You will receive responses to these questions in your SET reports. Remember to keep a copy of the questions and scale so you can interpret the results.

Some instructors use incentives to encourage students to complete online evaluations. For example, they give all students extra credit if a specific response rate (e.g., 80%) is met. Resources

A few tips

Double-check your details in the online SET system midway through the semester and contact your SET coordinator if anything seems to be amiss.
Empower your teaching. The goal of SET surveys is not just to receive positive feedback but to gather valuable insights for improvement. By implementing these tactics, you can encourage more constructive and helpful responses from your students, ultimately enhancing your teaching effectiveness.
Learn more about teaching and get help interpreting your results by contacting the Office for Teaching and Learning.
Follow the academic calendar when scheduling final exams and posting grades. The evaluation period is posted in the Blue Faculty Dashboard. Look for an emailed link in the last three weeks of class. Please do not post grades before the last day of class, or students may evaluate your class knowing their grades in your class.
Access your reports in Academica and save a printed copy for your records.
Tell your students that you care about their feedback, and tell them particular things you would like feedback about before the evaluation period begins.

Monthly responsibilities

January: Faculty review winter course information with SET coordinator.

Evaluation period
Team-taught courses

April: Faculty may view their response rates during SET administration.

Send reminder emails to students if response rates are low.

May: Faculty review spring/summer course information with SET coordinator.

Evaluation period
Team-taught courses

June - August: Faculty periodically review response rates during spring, spring/summer, and summer sessions.

Send reminder emails to students if response rates are low.

September: Faculty review fall course information with SET coordinator.

Evaluation period
Team-taught courses

November: Faculty may view their response rates during SET administration.

Send reminder emails to students if response rates are low.