Faculty Course Questionnaires FCQs

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Faculty Course Questionnaires (FCQs)

• Improving Teaching and Learning Documenting
  Teaching Effectiveness for Promotion and Tenure

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Facts About FCQ's

• Standard 12 item questionnaire
• Completed at the end of each course
• Administered by the CU-Boulder Office of
  Planning, Budget, and Analysis

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Improving Teaching Learning

• FCQs should be only one component of a
  well-rounded instructor rating program
• FCQs are summative, consider administering a
  mid-term evaluation to gather formative
  information on
• The level of the material
• The pace of the course
• Use of class time
• What aspects of the course are contributing to
  learning
• Possible improvements

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Improving Teaching Learning

• Add optional questions to FCQs
• To show that gains have been made in skills,
  knowledge, and attitudes
• To determine how your curricula, teaching style,
  etc. assisted in student learning
• Up to 24 questions can be added to side B to your
  FCQ

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Optional Questions

• Request optional questions at http//www.colorado
  .edu/pba/fcq/optq/optsform.html
• Over 800 catalogued questions can be searched and
  selected
• Can create new questions
• Must renew your request each term
• Individual optional questions have precedence
  over others (departments, college, or campus)

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Optional Question Categories

• Student Descriptives
• Course Difficulty
• Students
• Instructor
• Course
• Text
• Lectures
• Labs

• Assignments
• Special Facilities
• Procedures and Techniques
• Tests
• Grades
• Instructor - Designed Questions

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FCQ Schedule

• March 1 Deadline for requesting optional
  questions for Spring Semester.
• April 24 28 FCQ Administration during last
  full week of spring classes
• June 16 Departments should receive results.
• October 1 Deadline for requesting optional
  questions for Fall Semester

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The Results go to

• Individual instructors for use in improving their
  courses and teaching
• Department chairs and deans for use in course
  assignments and in promotion, salary, and tenure
  decisions
• Students for use in course selection. Results for
  the three most recent years are available on the
  World Wide Web
• Campus libraries
• The FCQ office which keeps one term of section
  results on hand. To locate older reports
  contact Kathy Englund (x3121)

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FCQ Online Access

• Results for 7 of the 12 questions are online
• Online results can be used to get a quick
  overview of scores
• Online FCQ data can be searched using instructor
  name, subject, course number, department, or
  timeframe
• Results downloadable to excel or viewed in
  browser

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FCQ Online Access
Name
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FCQ Online Access
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FCQ Items







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FCQ Results in Browser
Letter Grades
Numeric Scores
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Reading the Results
1
5
2
3
4
8
6
7

• Semester and Year of Course
• Your Name
• Course Number
• Title of Class
• Instructor Status
• College
• Response Rate Information (Returned/Requested)100
  response rate (9/19)100 47
• Comparison Data

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Reading the Results
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Reading the Results Average Ratings
A 4, B 3, C 2, D 1, F 0 Average
Rating (24) (33) (32) (11) 8 9
6 1 24 24/9 2.666 2.67
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Reading the Results Comparisons to Others
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Reading the Results Comparisons to Others
How your scores differ from others in your
department and across campus. Scores range from
--- to
19
Reading the ResultsWorkload
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Determining Trends







Online
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Determining Trends
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Suggested FCQ Clusters

• Communication
• Presentation of course material (q. 1)
• Explanations of assignments (q. 2)
• Accessibility of instructor (q. 8)
• Consistency
• Relevance of assignments to course (q. 3)
• Fairness of grading policies (q. 4)
• Relationship with Students
• Instructors treatment of ethnic minority and
  female students (q. 6)
• How the course addressed issues and information
  about women and ethnic minorities (q. 7)
• Effectiveness
• How well the instructor motivated student to
  explore the subject further (q. 9)
• Course as a learning experience (q. 10)
• This course, compared to all your other
  university courses (q. 11)
• The instructor, compared to all your other
  university instructors (q. 12)

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Communication Cluster
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Communication Cluster Trends
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FCQ Items Open Response

• Most effective aspects of this course were
• Least effective aspects of this course were
• Best ways to improve this course would be to
• Further comments

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Interpreting Open Response Comments

• Remind students prior to FCQ's to be constructive
• Tally common comments
• Determine sense of the class
• Decide if action is warranted

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Myths

• Student ratings are nothing more than a
  popularity contest, with the warm, friendly,
  humorous instructor the obvious winner
• Student ratings are unreliable and invalid
• The time and day the course is offered affects
  student ratings
• Students cannot meaningfully be used to improve
  instruction
• Gender of the teacher does not bias students
  ratings
• (K. Feldman, 1997)

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Half Truths

• Slightly higher ratings are given
• To teachers of smaller rather than larger courses
• To teachers of upper-level rather than lower
  level courses
• To teachers of higher rather than lower academic
  rank
• By students taking a course as an elective rather
  than as a requirement
• By students taking a course that is in their
  major rather than one that is not

(K. Feldman, 1997)
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New FCQ Coming Fall 2006

• Recommendations made by the FCQ Advisory
  Committee (Boulder)
• Approved by the Boulder Chancellor
• No summer FCQs
• Awaiting June response from UCCS
• Will have to develop something by Summer
• Determine if UCCS will use Boulder FCQs
• The new form has
• Nine response questions
• A 1-6 response scale rather than A-F
• One narrative response question

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New FCQ Form
Similar to Current FCQ
Perceived Learning Gain
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For More FCQ Information

• Reading Interpreting
• Promotion Tenure

Contact the TLC

• Questions
• One-on-one
• Group sessions