Provost Jordan,
1. Issue: Student Opinion Surveys (Participation Rates): SOS language
in section 3.07.03.3 of the Academic Affairs Handbook
In the context of the Student Opinion Survey Participation Rates, the
Executive Committee recommended that the committee review the SOS language
in section 3.07.03.3 of the Academic Affairs Handbook in conjunction with
its reconsideration of the "all courses with ten or more students be
administered SOS" motion that FAPC had directed to ECUS for steering.
2. History As you likely recall, a brief history of this matter is
a. 3 Dec 2010: The committee approves an advisory motion referenced
as FAPC Motion 1 (3 Dec 2010) To recommend that Student
Opinion Surveys be administered to all classes with ten or more students
and directs this motion to ECUS for steering.
b. 21 Jan 2011: At this joint meeting of standing committee chairs
with the Executive Committee, ECUS steers this motion to FAPC.
A summary of the deliberation at the 21 January 2011 joint meeting of ECUS
and Standing Committee Chairs follows.
o ECUS indicates its position is that the policy for student opinion surveys
is that they are administered and that the details (how frequently, to what
classes, how they are administered (online, paper and pencil), how the
Student Opinions Surveys used for annual faculty evaluations are selected,
etc) are procedural matters.
o In light of this position, ECUS indicates that this motion is procedural
and recommends that FAPC apply its advisory function to offer advice to the
Provost on this matter.
o There is an additional recommendation that the language in the GCSU
Academic Affairs Handbook regarding the use of Student Opinion Surveys for
faculty evaluation be reviewed by FAPC for consistency with current
practice given the recent transition to online administration of these
student opinion surveys.
c. 4 Feb 2011: FAPC endorses again FAPC Motion 1 (3 Dec
2010), this time as an advisory motion to the Provost
d. 4 Feb 2011: FAPC begins deliberation on the way in which SOS
might inform annual faculty evaluation postponing deliberation to 4 Mar 2011
with the understanding that each of its members will consult with her/his
constituency to inform continued committee deliberation.
e. 4 Mar 2011: FAPC reconsiders this matter and due to a full agenda
for 4 Mar 2011 has insufficient time to fully complete its deliberation and
postpones the deliberation on this matter to the 1 Apr 2011 committee
meeting.
3. Committee Action at 1 April 2011 FAPC Meeting:
Exercising its advisory function, the committee charged me (as committee
chair) to forward the following motion to you for consideration,
FAPC Motion 1 (1 Apr 2011) To recommend to the Provost that
(1) the language in Section 3.07.03.3 of the institution’s Academic Affairs
Handbook be updated to reflect the online delivery of the student opinion
survey, with particular emphasis on items 1 and 5 of Section A as well as
all of Section C.
(2) the modified language be sent back to this committee for review.
4. Contextual Observations:
As a point of information, as the 1 April 2011 meeting was the last of the
2010-2011 FAPC, a second [related] motion was made, seconded and approved
and identified as FAPC Motion 2 (1 Apr 2011) To postpone
consideration of Motion 1 (4 Feb 2011) to be coincident with committee
review of the modified language from Section 3.07.03.3 of the Academic
Affairs Handbook indicated in part two of FAPC Motion 1 (1 Apr 2011).
where FAPC Motion 1 (4 Feb 2011) as amended at 4 March 2011 FAPC meeting
[with consideration postponed at the 1 Apr 2011 meeting] To
recommend to the Provost that student opinion survey results be used for
both formative and summative faculty evaluation purposes.
5. Let me know if you require additional information or clarification of
this matter.
Craig