Message from the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

Veronica Makowsky Dear Colleagues,

In August of 2007, the Provost’s Teaching, Learning and Assessment Task Force presented a report (under “Reports” at provost.uconn.edu) with some significant recommendations. This website will serve as a source of information and updates on progress toward achieving this major recommendation:

“Replace Student Ratings Instrument [SRI, another name for Student Evaluation of Teaching] with an appropriate, valid, and reliable instrument.”

A separate, smaller group, the Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) Task Force, then met to decide how we should meet this goal. Their report can be found at the link in the left menu bar on this page.

The SET Task Force recommended a pilot form which was adjusted after discussions with the TLA Oversight Committee and psycho-metricians at the Neag School of Education. The form will continue to be a paper version, administered in class, not an online version (except for online courses as at present). That DRAFT pilot form can be found at the link in the left menu bar on this page.

I would strongly suggest that you look at the research attached to this report as well as the research links to the left on this page.

This spring (2009), the form will be piloted in a number of classes of different kinds (large, medium, small, different kinds of disciplines, general education, major, etc.). The classes that participate in the pilot will fill out both forms, the current form and the pilot form. We will also conduct focus groups of participating faculty and students. The results of the pilot form will NOT be used for any evaluative purposes (PTR, merit, etc), but will only be available to the TLA Oversight Committee, the Neag experts, and the instructor involved since its purpose is to evaluate the form, not the instructor.

Over the summer of 2009, we will assess the results of the pilots, get feedback from instructors and students, and make adjustments to the draft form.

In the fall of 2009, the revised form and recommendations would be discussed by the entire campus community at appropriate committees, meetings, faculty forums, senate committees, etc. The TLA Oversight Committee will organize this dissemination and discussion. If we can get approvals, we would like to start the new system in Fall 2010, but I emphasize that nothing will be implemented without full discussion, revisions, and approvals.

I would like to express my gratitude to the faculty and staff on the Task Forces that have brought us to this point. This was a research- and labor-intensive process which will mark a significant advance for teaching and learning at UConn.

Please send any comments to me at Veronica.Makowsky@uconn.edu or to Catherine Ross, the Associate Director of the Institute for Teaching and Learning, at Catherine.Ross@uconn.edu.

With best wishes,

Veronica Makowsky Veronnica

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
and Regional Campus Administration