A new version of the Faculty Course Questionnaire will be distributed to University of Colorado at Boulder students to provide ratings and feedback on classes and instructors beginning with the fall 2006 semester.
Highlights of the revised form and evaluation procedure include slightly different questions and a numerical rating scale instead of letter grades.
Also, if an instructor is concerned that forms may contain inappropriate or offensive comments, the instructor can request that a neutral panel review the forms as part of a new pilot program for 2006-07. The panel would include faculty, students and professional staff, and can order the removal of an offensive FCQ from the tabulation process before it is reviewed by the instructor or deans and department heads.
FCQ results are used by instructors to improve their courses and teaching. Results are considered by peers and administrators during annual merit, tenure and promotion reviews. Students use the results in selecting classes and instructors.
In the current FCQ system, administrators have access to the written comments. As stated on the FCQ office Web site, forms are not pulled from the record because of low ratings or rude comments. A form can be removed usually only in cases where there is clear evidence in the student's comments that the form was intended to evaluate some other course or instructor, or if there is evidence of multiple sheets being submitted by one student.
"We hope the screening program will eliminate the use of FCQs by those few students who abuse the opportunity," said Michael Grant, associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education and chair of the campus FCQ revision committee.
Some faculty members had requested that all written comments supplied by students on the FCQ forms be omitted when results were returned to deans and department chairs.
"Continued chair and dean access to students' written comments underlines to students and to the public that departments, schools and colleges care deeply about students' experiences in their classes and that CU-Boulder as an institution will be responsive to student opinion," Grant said.
After considerable deliberation, the revision committee recommended the new panel review option for faculty who request it. In the new pilot program, chairs and deans would not see any individual forms that were deemed to be abusive or inappropriate by the neutral panel.
"We are recommending the pilot screening process to address the most serious objection advanced by faculty who think there should be no narrative comments or that any comments should be seen by only the faculty member in question," Grant said.
"Quite a number of faculty are passionate in their view that student comments should be seen only by the faculty members themselves," he said. "We considered all the arguments, but felt that chairs and deans share responsibility for the quality of classroom instruction and should, therefore, have access to all relevant information. Also, in many cases the narrative material is far more useful to reviewers than the numerical scores of the FCQ.
"Perhaps surprisingly, given the controversial status of FCQs with many faculty, there was substantial support for the recommended changes on the grounds that the process and the instrument would both be substantially improved if these recommendations are implemented," Grant said.
Revised FCQ reporting formats also are being developed to include more graphics and emphasize comparisons within closely related disciplines. Quantitative results will still be posted. An additional pilot program during spring 2006 will test the feasibility of requiring that FCQs be completed online for all graduate level courses with 10 or fewer students.
The FCQ revision committee supplied a first draft of recommended changes to Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano in February and then consulted with faculty and student groups before issuing a final draft in August. The Chancellor accepted the committee's final recommendations in September and ordered the changes be implemented next fall.
The full texts of the revision issues and recommendations from the committee are posted online at . For more information about FCQs, visit .