YUFA
Stewards' Information
Concerned about the Transition from Paper to Electronic Student Evaluations?
23 Mar 07 - You’re not alone, and YUFA is working to ensure that your concerns are met.
The Faculty of Arts has been engaged in a series of pilot projects involving the use of electronic rather than paper (in-class) course evaluations by students in the past two years. It is our understanding that the current technologies employed by many instructors for conducting statistical student evaluations through in-class exercises such as the Faculty of Arts Course Evaluations will no longer be supported by the central administration, and such standardized methods of evaluation will be conducted only on-line in the coming years. We note, however, that while faculty members must enable students to assess their teaching, there is no requirement that statistical evaluations be collected or that any standardized or centralized form (either paper or on-line) be used. Academic units (departments, schools, divisions and Faculties) are permitted to develop their own methods of evaluating teaching as appropriate to their discipline or program, and may choose to use statistical or evaluative methods of assessment, or some combination of the two. The Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning has developed a Guide to Teaching Assessment and a Teaching Documentation Guide to aid faculty members in developing methods of assessment appropriate for their disciplines and programs.
The evaluation of teaching is especially important with respect to tenure and promotion decisions. All faculty members are expected to teach at York; teaching is one of our professional responsibilities under Art. 11.01 of the Collective Agreement and B.I of the Tenure and Promotions Document for Faculty. The T&P document requires that the quality of teaching be assessed, both by collegial and student assessments. It does not, however, specify the precise form that student assessments must take, nor does it mandate participation in such programs as the standard Faculty of Arts Course Evaluation exercise. T&P processes for members in the Professorial Stream require a full assessment of a candidate’s teaching, by both colleagues and students. Units are, furthermore, “encouraged to ensure that student evaluations of teaching are collected in each year for probationary faculty. Such evaluations shall include an opportunity for students to provide confidential signed comments.” (T&P Document F.3.1.2(b)(iv).) A candidate’s T&P file will include “Statistical summaries and analysis of all quantifiable material, together with any signed comments, from student teaching evaluations”. (ibid., F.3.1.5.(h).) Formal questionnaires must be used in the Alternate Stream. (Alternate Stream Document B.2.2.2.) Because candidates for promotion to full professor, like candidates for tenure and promotion to associate professor, are evaluated in terms of all three areas of professional responsibility (teaching, research / scholarly / creative activities, and service to the University), it is necessary that they too be able to document their effectiveness in teaching.
Beyond the detailed procedures specified for the compilation and use of teaching evaluations in tenure and promotion files, a number of concerns have been raised about how the results of on-line teaching evaluation results might be used. It has been YUFA’s position that if statistical results from the evaluations are retained by the Employer, they will become part of your Personnel File. Article 22 of the Collective Agreement describes what information may be held in the Personnel Files of YUFA members, and the purposes to which they may or may not be put. Art. 22.03 (a) contemplates that “aggregated statistical information recorded in student evaluations” may be kept in our Personnel Files. This suggests that such information may be gathered by the Employer for the professional assessment of employees, but it does not mandate that employees participate in student evaluation exercises which collect such information. If an employee does participate in forms of student evaluation that result in aggregated statistical information, that information shall not generally be made available to third parties (Art. 22.06). Thus any suggestion that statistical information from student evaluations conducted on-line will be made widely available to prospective students to assist them in selecting courses or instructors is prohibited by our reading of the Collective Agreement.
A number of other concerns about this change in format have been raised by members with YUFA. We invite members to submit their concerns to us. YUFA will be holding discussions with the Administration about our concerns, and possible modifications to the evaluation process and/or forms in light of the transition to an electronic format in the coming months, through the Joint Committee on the Administration of the Agreement. YUFA will be working with the Employer to ensure that best practices are identified and employed in the evaluation of teaching, that the privacy rights of YUFA members are respected, and that all other rights of YUFA members under the Collective Agreement are respected.
Comments or concerns may be submitted to the attention of the YUFA caucus of JCOAA at yufa@yorku.ca.
In solidarity,
Susan Dimock
YUFA Co-chair JCOAA