Faculty Course Questionnaires to move online

Sandy Wurtele
Monique French
Carole Huber

After completing two Faculty Course Questionnaire pilot projects during the last academic year, a faculty-led redesign team is preparing to move all FCQs online beginning fall 2017.

UCCS representatives to a three campus team included Sandy Wurtele, associate dean, College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Carole Huber, senior instructor, Geography and Environmental Studies Department, Robyn Marschke, director, Institutional Research Office, Tracy Parks, educational technologist, College of Business and Monique French, associate professor, College of Business, and past president, Faculty Assembly.

The UCCS group, as well as representatives from other CU campuses, piloted new question sets in collaboration with the Discipline Based Education Research group at CU Boulder. The revised questions are now under review. Additional input from Colorado Springs campus faculty will be solicited in the coming months.

“We believe the new questions will provide more valuable feedback for faculty to improve teaching and learning,” French said. “The transition to online FCQs will enable faculty to receive the feedback as soon as the grading periods close, so that results can be used for more immediate improvement of courses and instruction. An added benefit is that we will have a more environmentally sustainable process – no more paper forms.”

Every term, students at UCCS, CU Boulder and CU Denver evaluate their courses and instructors using the FCQ.

In summer 2016, the Colorado Springs, Boulder and Denver campuses joined to update FCQ question sets and transition to online administration. In coming months, the redesign team will work to prepare faculty and staff for the transition by providing online training and open sessions. Sessions will be announced on the UCCS Calendar of Events and in faculty meetings.

In addition to creating a more sustainable FCQ, the redesign committee sought to improve response rates and feedback for faculty.

Across three campuses, 83 classes and approximately 3,880 students participated in a spring FCQ pilot with response rates approaching average paper FCQ rates. Students completed their FCQ survey using a cell phone, tablet, laptop or PC.

For more information, visit http://www.colorado.edu/fcqredesign/progress/final-spring-pilot-results

Student evaluations of courses, and the faculty who teach them, are part of a CU Board of Regents policy  that dates to 1986. Details of the teaching evaluation process are part of Administrative Policy Statement 1009.

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