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Senate Policies and Procedures for Student Feedback on Course Experience

The full Senate Policies and Procedures for Student Feedback on Course Experience are available here.

 

Background on the new CEQ process can be found in the report of the Special Senate Committee for Evaluating Course and Teaching Effectiveness (https://www.mun.ca/senate/media/production/memorial/administrative/senate/media-library/about/ECTE_report.pdf)

 

 

Policy

 

1. Purpose

1.1  A uniform process for collecting student feedback on course experience shall be followed throughout the University. This process shall include the administration of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) in all courses, except as provided for in these policies.

1.2  The policy and procedures reflect the CEQ purpose statement endorsed by Senate: As one part of an overall approach to course evaluation, the intent of the CEQ is to collect constructive information from students about learning experiences in their courses. CEQ results provide instructors with an opportunity to consider student feedback for the ongoing development of their courses and of their teaching practice; they help inform academic administrators about students’ perceptions of teaching and learning in their units; and acknowledge the value of students’ involvement in the evaluation process.

 

2. Scope

2.1  A course for the purpose of the CEQ and this policy is defined as per the University Calendar, with consideration of schedule types outlined in the Procedure for CEQ Preparation, and will be referred to in this policy and procedures as a CEQ mandated course.

2.2 The following types of courses may collect student course experience feedback by a method other than the CEQ and will be referred to in this policy and procedures as a non-CEQ mandated course:

2.2.1  Courses with enrolment less than 5.

2.2.2  Team-taught courses.

2.2.3  Non-degree credit courses.

2.2.4  Modularized courses or courses offered outside of the normal time frame for a semester or session, as defined by the University Calendar.

2.2.5  Courses offered by the Faculty of Medicine, and diploma and certificate courses offered by the Fisheries and Marine Institute, are not mandated to use the CEQ as per 2.2.2-2.2.4.

2.3  If the CEQ is administered for non-mandated courses as per 2.1, all aspects of the policy shall be followed as for CEQ mandated courses. Additionally the Procedure for Non-Mandated Courses shall apply.

2.4  If the CEQ is not administered as per 2.1, an alternative method of collecting student feedback shall be established. The alternative method shall offer students an opportunity to provide feedback on their course experience, with due regard for student anonymity. Specifications for the alternative method should be documented by the Administrative Head of the academic unit.

2.5  Academic units or instructors may administer their own separate student course feedback instruments in addition to the CEQ. The responses to any feedback methods outside of the CEQ will be processed by the academic unit or instructor by their own procedures. Students should be fully informed of the protocols around the collection of any course experience feedback outside of the CEQ.

2.6  All aspects of the administration of the Course Experience Questionnaire as set out by the policy and procedures will be the responsibility of the Committee on Course Experience, a standing committee of Senate (SCCE).

2.7  The Centre for Institutional Analysis and Planning (CIAP) will manage the administration and reporting of the CEQ on behalf of the Senate Committee on Course Experience, according to this Policy and Procedures document as well as any operational guidelines approved by that Committee as stipulated in its Terms of Reference.

 

3. Administration

3.1  The Course Experience Questionnaire shall be administered starting 14 days prior to the start of the examination period in a regular 14 week semester (fall, winter, spring) and 7 days prior to the start of the examination period in a regular 6 week session (intersession, summer session), until the day before the start of the examination period for that semester or session, as per published dates in the University Calendar.

3.2  The Course Experience Questionnaire will be administered online through the University’s currently approved course evaluation technology solution (“online system”).

3.3  Academic units shall confirm with the Centre for Institutional Analysis and Planning those courses in their unit that are to use the CEQ each semester and shall ensure that course and instructor information is accurate prior to administration, according to the Procedures for CEQ Preparation.

3.4  Courses that are confirmed to use the CEQ to collect student feedback in a semester or session will have a CEQ form available in the online system. Access to the online CEQ form for each course section will be given to each student registered in that course section as per Registrar records.

3.5  At the time of administration, students shall be informed of the purposes of the student feedback procedure and of the university policy for reporting of results. The Senate Committee on Course Experience shall prepare this information to accompany the form in the online system.

3.6  Students will be required to read the instructions and privacy statement for the CEQ form prior to responding, which will include a directive to be respectful in any written responses they provide. CEQ responses that violate the Student Code of Conduct may be subject to investigation in accordance with the Procedure for Problematic Results.

 

4. Questionnaire

4.1  The approved CEQ form consists of 12 standard rating-scale (quantitative) questions and 2 standard open-ended (qualitative) questions. These 14 standard questions will be considered the “core” CEQ form. The 2 standard open-ended questions will be optional on the part of the instructor and will be selected according to the Procedures for Customization of the Form. 

4.2  Supplementary questions may be added to the CEQ by the instructor or by the academic unit according to the Procedures for Customization of the Form.

 

5. Reporting of Results

5.1  Student responses to the CEQ will be captured within the online system and summarized by the reporting tools in that system as managed by the Centre for Institutional Analysis and Planning.

5.2  The compilation of results and reports will begin following the end of the CEQ administration period for a given semester or session.

5.3  The report compiled for an instructor will be the “Course Report” for the course section.

5.3.1  The Course Report will be distributed to the instructor(s) of the course section only.

5.3.2  The Course Report will identify the course (subject and number), section, semester or session, and the instructor name.

5.3.3  The Course Report will state the number of registered students, the number of respondents and the response rate for the course section.

5.3.4  The Course Report will report student responses to the core rating-scale (quantitative) questions, the optional core comments (qualitative) questions (if applicable), and any additional questions added by the instructor through the Procedures for Customization of the Form

5.3.5  Responses to rating-scale (quantitative) questions will be summarized by respondent count, frequency distribution (counts and percentages of each response), mean, median and standard deviation. Responses to comments (qualitative) questions will be presented verbatim with no summarization.

5.4 The report compiled for an academic unit will be the “Unit Report” for the unit.

5.4.1  The Unit Report will be prepared at the Faculty and School level, and at the Department level as well for Faculties and Schools that are departmentalized.

5.4.2  The Unit Report will be distributed to the administrative head(s) of the academic unit only. This will be the Dean of the Faculty or School and for departmentalized Faculties and Schools this will be both the Dean and the Department Head.

5.4.3  The Unit Report will identify the Faculty/School, Department (in the case of a departmentalized Faculty/School), number of course sections, overall number of registered students, overall number of respondents, and overall response rate for the unit.

5.4.4  The Unit Report will summarize student responses in aggregate for the core rating-scale (quantitative) questions and any additional questions added by the academic unit through the Procedures for Customization of the form. Unit reports will not include any results for comments (qualitative) questions.

5.4.5  The Unit Report will be based on the individual responses for the course subjects assigned to that unit, and will only include courses that meet aggregate reporting criteria as outlined in the Procedures for Aggregate Reporting.

5.4.6  Aggregate reports for unit heads will include the results of CEQ-mandated courses only as per 2.1 and the overall results must meet these thresholds: 

a) There must be at least 10 respondents represented in the unit results.

b) There must be at least 2 unique instructors represented in the unit results.

c) There must be at least two course sections represented in the unit results.

d) For a departmentalized Faculty or School there must be at least two departments represented in the Faculty or School unit results.

5.4.7  Course sections may be excluded from aggregate reporting if there are special circumstances impacting CEQ administration noted by the academic unit that make inclusion in aggregate reporting not appropriate.

5.4.8  Academic unit heads may request ad-hoc aggregate reports in addition to the overall unit report. Such requests will be made in writing to the SCCE and will be considered with respect to the purpose of the CEQ and this policy.

 

5.5  Course Reports for instructors and Unit Reports for academic unit heads will be made available electronically through the online system. Once reports have been officially released for a semester, instructors and heads will be notified by email of their report availability.

5.6  Reports shall be provided as soon as possible after the final date for receipt, by the Registrar’s Office, of replacement grades for the semester as per published dates in the University Calendar. No results shall be returned to instructors prior to this time.

5.7  The online data collected for each administration of the CEQ, and the resulting reports, shall be archived by the Centre for Institutional Analysis and Planning. CEQ records will be managed in accordance with University policies, including the Privacy policy and the Information Management policy. Retention and removal of CEQ records will follow the guidelines stated in the MUNCLASS Retention and Disposal Schedule for these records.

5.8  An instructor may request a copy of their past CEQ report(s) from CIAP if the report is not accessible in the online system. A request for a copy of a report must come from the instructor directly, in writing, through their @mun.ca account (or a verifiable email address in the case of instructors no longer at Memorial). The replacement report will be provided to the instructor as a PDF copy sent by reply to the original email request.

 

6. Use of Results

6.1  Instructors may use CEQ results in the following ways:

6.1.1  Instructors may use the Course Report to help inform the course learning design.

6.1.2  Instructors may include the Course Report in their Teaching Dossier.

6.2  Academic units may use CEQ results in the following ways:

6.2.1  Academic units may use the Unit Report to help inform the teaching and learning within their unit. 

6.2.2  Academic units may use the Unit Report as supporting documentation for program review.

6.3  The SCCE must be consulted for any other potential uses of CEQ results.

 

 

Procedures

A. Procedure for CEQ Preparation

As per item 3.3 of the Terms of Reference for the Senate Committee on Course Experience, these procedures outline the operational guidelines followed by the Centre for Institutional Analysis and Planning (CIAP) for preparation of the administration of the CEQ in support of the Senate policy, and are approved by the Senate Committee on Course Experience (SCCE). These procedures assume the following:

  • As the CEQ is administered during each of the three regular semesters of the academic year (the two six week sessions are included in spring semester), these guidelines reflect a full semester cycle of the CEQ.
  • The CEQ is administered at Memorial in an online format only through the Explorance Blue course evaluation system which is referred to as the “online system” in these guidelines.
  • All inquiries made to the CIAP office pertaining to CEQ policy matters will be directed to the SCCE unless that committee has previously provided direction to CIAP on the matter. For inquiries made to the CIAP office pertaining to technical or operational matters for the CEQ system, CIAP will address these and work with Information Technology Services (ITS), the Registrar’s Office (RO) and the Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) as needed.

 

A.1  The key dates related to the administration of the CEQ in a given semester will be established at the beginning of the semester and will follow the stipulations in the preceding Policy. The administration period dates for the semester will be published on the CEQ website (www.mun.ca/ceq).

A.2  The Data Integrity Gateway (DIG) module in the Blue online system will be used by CIAP and by the academic units to prepare the course information and administrative details for the CEQ.

A.3 At approximately week 2 of the semester CIAP will send an email communication to academic unit heads to:

  1. advise of the key CEQ dates for the semester;
  2. provide a copy of the Instructional Assignment report for their unit for initial review and early correction of any errors in the Banner system;
  3. ask for confirmation of the contact information CIAP has on file for the unit for the individuals who will be receiving CEQ related information during the semester. This will include the unit head and a staff member who is the designated DIG user. 

A.4  At approximately week 5 of the semester CIAP will send an email to the unit DIG users via the online system inviting them to complete their DIG tasks.

 

A.5  CIAP will prepare and provide a User Guide for DIG users with instructions for how to review and select courses in DIG.

A.6 The list of courses in DIG will include all regular course sections being offered in the current semester, both CEQ mandated and non-CEQ mandated, as units may wish for a non-CEQ mandated course to have a CEQ form (refer to the preceding Policy for mandated criteria). Courses will appear on the course list in DIG if: 

  • Activity code is NOT EQUAL to:

B  [Laboratory]

E  [No Activity]

F  [Internship]

H  [Work Period]

J   [Independent Study Course]

I   [Personalized Instruction]

M  [Distance Education]

O  [Dissertation]

P  [Honours Essay]

Q  [Comprehensive Examination]

U  [MI Full-Time Study Course]

  • Enrolment is greater than 0
  • The course is not a designated work term (xxxW)
  • The course is at the undergraduate or graduate level (level codes 01 and 02)
  • The course is not offered by the Faculty of Medicine (subject MED)

 

A.7  The DIG user will review the course list, in accordance with the DIG user guide, to:

a) Confirm what courses will use the CEQ. This will include identifying any courses that are normally CEQ-exempt but for which the CEQ will be used.

b) Ensure the instructional assignment information is correct for those courses using the CEQ. Course sections must have an instructor assigned in the Banner system in order to be selected to use the CEQ.

c) Identify course details that may need correction in Banner. This will include cross-list code and schedule type.

d) Provide notes for courses that may have special circumstances concerning the administration of the CEQ that semester. Course sections for which an instructor is replaced part-way through the semester should be treated as a team taught course and its status set as a non-CEQ mandated course.

A.8  A period of 14 days will be assigned for completion of DIG tasks and a reminder email will be sent 7 days after the invitation email and the day prior to the DIG deadline.

A.9  Each course that is identified in DIG as requiring a CEQ will be set up in the online system with a CEQ form that can be completed by each registered student in the course.

A.10  Customization of the CEQ form as detailed in the Senate policy will be managed in the following timeframes.

  1. An email invitation for instructor question personalization (QP) will be sent to current instructors via the online system 3 weeks prior to the start of the CEQ administration period. The deadline to complete QP tasks will be 1 week prior to the start of the CEQ administration period. A reminder email will be sent 7 days after the start of the QP period and on the day prior to the last day of the QP period.
  2. Academic unit custom questions can be applied to the CEQ form for a given semester no later than 1 week prior to the start of the CEQ administration period.
  3. Instructions for instructor and unit customization will be made available on the CEQ website.

A.11  On the first day of the administration period, an email invitation will be sent via the online system to students who are registered for any courses being evaluated with the CEQ. This email will provide instructions for completing the online CEQ for the course(s) for which they are registered. A copy of the instructions will be made available on the CEQ webpage.

A.12  Reminder emails will be sent via the online system to students at 7 days after the start of the evaluation period and on the day prior to the last day of the administration period.

A.13  Questions or technical issues raised by students or instructors during the administration period will be prioritized by CIAP and the appropriate resources engaged as needed (ITS, RO, CITL, SCCE).

A.14  CIAP will monitor overall response rates during the CEQ administration period and provide updates to the SCCE as needed.

 

B.  Procedure for Non-Mandated Courses

Courses defined in section 1.2 of the preceding Policy are not mandated to use the CEQ but an academic unit may choose the CEQ as the method of collecting student feedback for courses of these types. Whenever possible, the preferred accommodation for a non-mandated course is to follow the same processes and the same administration period as for mandated courses in that semester, with the following adjustments.  

 

B.1  Team-taught courses

The CEQ collects student feedback on the course experience and the core questionnaire does not include questions specific to the instructor. The following procedures will apply to the use of the CEQ for team-taught courses:

  1. If an academic unit chooses to use the CEQ for a team taught course, a single instance of the 12 standard rating-scale questions will be administered for the course with students completing the CEQ form once for the course overall. 
  2. An instructor of the team can, on an individual basis, opt to include the two core comments questions and any other instructor custom questions. Any instructor custom questions will be displayed to students following the 12 standard rating-scale questions and will have the instructor name clearly indicated for each question.
  3. The Course Report for each instructor of the team will contain the same summary of the core 12 rating-scale questions for the course overall. If a team instructor opted to include the core comments questions or any custom questions, the responses for these will be summarized in the Course Report for that instructor only and will not be available to the other team instructors.

B.2  Modularized courses or courses offered outside of the normal time frame for a semester or session (special session courses)

A special session course, denoted in the Banner system by a part of term code that is not full semester, intersession or summer session (1, 2 or 3) will have a custom administration period established by CIAP in keeping within the following parameters:

  1. A separate administration period for a special session course will normally be the last 5 days of the session according to the session end date in the Banner system.
  2. The CEQ for a special session course must not be administered after the final exam for the course has taken place or after grades have been released for the course by the Registrar’s office.
  3. Academic units will be asked to confirm the proposed administration periods for special session courses in the event that course circumstances warrant adjustments to these dates.

 

C. Procedure for Customization of the Form

C.1  Instructor Customization

  1. The core CEQ form includes two (2) comments questions that are optional for an instructor to include. An instructor may also select up to five (5) additional rating-scale questions and up to two (2) additional comments questions to be answered on the CEQ for their course. The responses to these additional items will be processed by CIAP as per 5.3 and will be reported as part of the Course Report for that instructor. 
  2. The process of selecting instructor custom questions will be conducted through the online technology solution for the CEQ. Each semester instructors will be notified by email of the questionnaire personalization process prior to the CEQ administration period. CIAP will provide instructors with guidelines for completing custom question selection in the online system.

C.2  Unit Customization

  1. An academic unit may arrange to have up to five (5) additional rating-scale questions appear on the CEQ, to be used for all course sections within the unit.
  2. The process of selecting unit custom questions will be done in consultation with the SCCE, and unit custom questions will be added to the CEQ form by CIAP within the online system.
  3. Unit questions will be applied to the CEQ form based on course subject code.
  4. The responses to unit custom questions will be processed by CIAP as per 5.4 and will be reported in aggregate as part of the Unit Report.
  5. An academic unit may choose to have the responses to unit custom questions summarized as part of the Course Report for instructors in their unit.

 

 

D. Procedures for Problematic Results (TO BE DETERMINED)

If an instructor feels that a written response to an open-ended question on the CEQ is in violation of the Student Code of Conduct, they may submit a formal request to have the response reviewed.

 

*This procedure is under development.