Appendix 5

Information on Practices at Other Universities

Inter-Office Memo

To:              APC Sub-Committee for Student Ratings                              Date:     February 23, 1998
From:          Bob Schulz, Coordinator
                    Teaching Development Office
Subject:      Evaluations

1. University of Western Ontario

.1 All professors included in the pool of information.
.2 Information available to anyone (see attached information on Debra Dawson, Coordinator
of the Teaching Development Office).
.3 Recent survey sent to all faculty members - zero concerns about publication.

2. University of Ottawa

.1 All professors included.
.2 Information available now in paper to anyone.
.3 Web access for students only coming soon.

3. University of Manitoba

.1 Angus-Reid polls for student ratings.
.2 Information released to media, where picture of worst professor on front page of paper.
.3 Publication ("Students Rating Teaching") forthcoming soon.

4. York University

.1 Major time and effort after a legal case.
.2 Anonymous student comments cannot be used.

5. University of Regina

.1 Concerned about untrained peer evaluations.

6. University of Alberta

.1 All professors included.
.2 Information available on the web.
.3 Multi-faceted approval to evaluate (must use at least two sources of information).

7. Queen's University

.1 Virtually all professors included ("bad form" to opt out).
.2 Information available in paper form and Web for all students.
.3 Faculty member signs a release that information can go into the pool of information.

8. University of Victoria

.1 Information on instructor only by student and merit/promotion/tenure.
.2 Course information available to all on the Web.
.3 Concerned about the legal issues for publication.

9. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

.1 Doing on-line student ratings.

RAS:jmt Encls.

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University	Is there a universal student ratings questionnaire?	Are the questionnaires anonymous or signed?	Are ratings published?  If so, by whom?	Have Student ratings and/or publishing ratings affected teaching or morale?	Is the questionnaire covered in the Collective Agreement?	Other
Alberta	YES, but it is part of a multi-faceted approach, the questionnaire was approved October 1993.  A copy of the questionnaire is attached.	ANONYMOUS	Results are made available to the SU and GSA, but are not published.  The SU and GSA make them available to U of A students only.  Comments are not released, only universal questionnaire results	There is no consensus on this.  Amendments regarding this were made after broad consultation.  AAS:UA proposed that a professor be allowed to request in writing that his/her results not be published.  This was turned down at GFC.  This is only the second year at the U of A, it is too soon to tell the full effect.	It is not in the CA, but the Association was consulted.	A copy of the questionnaire is attached.
British Columbia	NO.  The questionnaires are different in different faculties/ departments.	ANONYMOUS	In the Arts faculty, they are made available in the library.  Other practices vary.  (NOTE:  there is some suggestion that the Access to Information legislation applies to student rating, but this has not been fully sorted out yet.)  The Students' Union has also conducted its own survey and published the results, but this was in a small number of classes and was poorly done.	Unknown	No.
Lethbridge			NO.  Evaluations are considered a part of the faculty member's personnel file and covered under the Handbook.  The SU does not publish anything either.
Manitoba			Student ratings were published at the U of M last year, but this was entirely an SU project.  The FA and admin were not involved.  The SU publication missed faculty members, had wrong names, etc.  The FA and admin are meeting with the SU this year to discuss this.
New Brunswick	YES				YES.  In the UNB/AUNBT Collective Agreement, ARticle 25D.06a indicated that student opinion surveys approved by Senate and, if available, those approved for use by Faculty Councils, and/or Departments may be used.  Further, Article 26.06 states that "No anonymous documents or materials shall be kept in the Official File... The aggregate numerical results of any collective student opinion survey of the Employee's teaching which has been approved by Senate and, if available, those approved for use by Faculty Councils and/or Academic Departments, shall not be considered anonymous materials."
Ryerson	YES.  The student evaluations (which were developed by a joint committee of the Faculty Association and the Board) consist of eleven questions answered on a scanner sheet.  No opportunity for written comments is provided.	ANONYMOUS	NO			The summary results of these evaluations may be used as part of the assessment of overall performance in tenure decisions.  These results are the only exception ot the rule specified in the CA that no material from anonymous sources may be placed in the personnel file.
St. Mary's			NO.  They are distributed to the faculty member, Dept. Head and Dean.  This system is under the control of Senate.  The SU is proposing to develop their own evaluations which they will publish.  ONly the Senate's can be used in evaluations.
Simon Fraser	No	N/A	No	N/A	N/A
Toronto			YES, but only if they have the written permission from the professor concerned.