\n\tBy SUSAN JONES<\/p>\n
\n\tThe University is piloting new student opinion of teaching surveys this semester, and while students probably won\u2019t notice much difference, it will give faculty additional tools for understanding trends and more.<\/p>\n
\n\tClassRanked will become Pitt\u2019s official teaching survey administration system later this year. Faculty can sign up by March 2 to be part of the test group for the new system this spring. Then all faculty will be using it by the summer and fall.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe schools \u201cmake the decisions in terms of which classes get surveyed, which instructors get surveyed, what questions are used on the survey, things like that,\u201d said John Radzilowicz, director of pedagogy, practice & assessment for the University Center for Teaching and Learning. \u201cNone of that changes. It\u2019s really just the software and the end use, the interface that people are going to be dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPeople are going to do what they\u2019ve always done, but they\u2019re just going to experience it a little differently, because it\u2019ll be a different interface,\u201d said Lisa Votodian, survey assessment manager for the Office of Measurement and Evaluation of Teaching with the University Center for Teaching and Learning.<\/p>\n
\n\tErik Arroyo, director of academic support services, said this new platform is much more up to date than what Pitt has been using for the past 10 years. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of enhanced features and a much more intuitive experience for faculty, staff and students. And so the process will get better for folks who are completing these teaching surveys.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOne new feature is an interactive student QR code experience. \u201cThat will help boost completion rates, because it allows folks to do their surveys in real time right there in the class, which is one of our recommendations anyway, is to build in time to do surveys in the class,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cThat will help create higher participation with almost no effort from the instructor whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOn the faculty side, there are several improvements:<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tFaculty will be able to display a response rate monitor that will track the student responses in real time.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tThere will be an AI synthesis of student comments that will help faculty look at those comments more holistically and pull together themes and areas that are working well and some areas that they might want to improve.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tFaculty will be able to bookmark insightful student comments and save them on their dashboard.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tThey\u2019ll be able to look at trends over time, once there\u2019s more historical data in the system.<\/p>\n
\n\tDeans also can access the reports, which they have had the ability to do since new provost guidance in 2021<\/a>. That same guidance said that schools should come up with plans to include other types of evaluations, so that the student surveys were not the primary or only evaluation of teaching.<\/p>\n \n\tRadzilowicz said now with the faculty union and collective bargaining agreement in place, \u201cthe provost\u2019s office has gone back to those plans and asked all of the schools to update those, and we are involved in helping the schools work through those updates, making sure that they\u2019re doing things that are pedagogically sound and that make sense in terms of the evaluation of teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOnly those involved with the spring pilot program will see any changes this semester. Once the system is fully implemented this fall, \u201cthe process is going to look a little different for them,\u201d Votodian said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be logging on to a different interface. The instructions will be laid out for them.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThere will be information available on the Teaching Center website after the spring pilot. Participants in the pilot might have suggestions on instruction documents, user guides and more.<\/p>\n \n\tSeveral faculty members are already signed up for the pilot, but Votodian said they\u2019ll take anyone who\u2019s interested. The deadline to sign up is March 2. Find more information on the Teaching Center website<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRadzilowicz gave credit to Votodian for the work she did, along with a committee of nearly 30 people from the Teaching Center, the provost\u2019s office, Pitt Digital, school leadership and faculty, in \u201clooking at vendors, creating the original RFP, doing all the interviews and all of those things. This was very complicated, a lot of moving pieces, and we feel really good about where we landed in terms of the selection that was made.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tArroyo said ClassRanked emerged as the clear favorite among that committee.<\/p>\n \n\tVotodian, Pitt Digital and the Teaching Center\u2019s operations staff will be transferring over the data from the old system this summer. \u201cNothing is lost. Everything is going to continue to be secure. All the data from the old system will come into the new system,\u201d Arroyo said.<\/p>\n \n\tSusan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu<\/a> or 724-244-4042.<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tHave a story idea or news to share?\u00a0Share<\/a>\u00a0it with the University Times.<\/p>\n