Effective Date: June, 22 2012
Last Reviewed: June, 22 2012
In order to provide a means for self-evaluation of teaching effectiveness by faculty members, as well as to provide a continuing means for the College to assess the overall quality of instruction at Stonehill and the performance of individual faculty members, students are asked to complete Student Course Evaluation Forms during the last weeks of classes each semester.
1. The following schedule shall be followed in regard to the frequency of use of the form:
a. Tenure track, term renewable and visiting faculty are expected to administer course evaluations in all courses every semester.
b. Tenured faculty who have been on the faculty for longer than six years are expected to administer course evaluations in all of their classes at least every third semester, but may administer course evaluations more frequently, if they wish.
c. Faculty members who plan to apply for promotion shall submit, as part of their materials, the approved course evaluations for either the four teaching semesters immediately preceding the semester in which the review is to take place or for five out of the six teaching semesters immediately preceding the review.
The Student Course Evaluation Form shall be used in all courses being taught for the first time.
2. The process for administration of the Student Course Evaluation Form is as follows:
a. Shortly before the end of each semester, the Vice President for Academic Affairs shall distribute blank evaluation forms to those faculty members who are scheduled to use them that semester. At the discretion of the faculty member, additional questions may be added to the evaluation form. However, no item may be deleted from the evaluation form.
b. Faculty members shall distribute the forms to their students during the last week of classes. Students should be allowed at least twenty minutes at the beginning of class to complete it. Both students and faculty members are expected to approach the evaluation process with seriousness and to follow the directions printed on the form. In addition, faculty members are asked to remind the students that:
i. the form is an important tool for self-evaluation, as well as for evaluation of faculty performance by the Department Chairperson, the Dean of the Faculty and the Rank and Tenure Committee;
ii. the forms are not returned to the faculty member until the semester grades have been submitted to the Registrar’s Office.
c. At the discretion of the faculty member, a student who has missed 25% or more of class meetings may be denied the opportunity of completing an evaluation form for that class. In such cases, the faculty member must have a written record of the student’s absences.
d. Faculty members are asked to leave the room while the students are completing the forms and to select a student from the class to collect the completed forms. No student shall be permitted to remove the form from the classroom in order to complete it elsewhere. No faculty member shall collect the forms personally.
e. After completing the forms, a student is identified to collect and return the completed forms to the Office of Academic Affairs immediately after class.
f. After semester grades have been submitted to the Registrar’s Office, the Office of Academic Affairs shall forward copies of the forms to the appropriate Department Chairpersons and faculty members.
g. In the course of reviewing their Student Course Evaluation Forms, faculty members may use the Professor Comment Form to provide information on particular courses that would prove valuable to those members of the College community who are responsible for reviewing the evaluations (Department Chairpersons, Dean of the Faculty , Rank and Tenure Committee members). Use of the Professor Comment Form is optional.