IDEA surveys will not be available for the spring 2020 semester, and an alternative survey is in the works.
The Faculty Evaluation Committee (FEC) has submitted a recommendation to the Provost to suspend the original IDEA surveys intended for this spring semester.
“This recommendation was made in light of the abrupt change in the mode of delivery of all university classes, the immediate challenges in transitioning to the online mode by students, faculty, and the university as a whole,” Sergey Rybas, chair of the Faculty Evaluation Committee, said.
Toward the end of each semester, IDEA surveys are given out to students so that they can evaluate the overall effectiveness of the courses they took and give feedback to their professors.
While some students tend to forget about completing the surveys for their classes, others feel that it plays a critical role in making sure that classes deliver the best experiences possible.
Dr. Jody Fournier, provost, and the FEC believe that the original survey will not do a good job at accurately recording student experiences, the effectiveness of the coursework, and teaching in light of the shift to a virtual environment because of COVID-19.
“The delivery of instruction changed so dramatically in such a short period of time that the survey results would have been invalidated,” Fournier said.
Fournier clarified that students will still be able to share their feedback on their spring 2020 classes.
“We are working on preparing a new survey so that students can provide feedback on their learning experiences this semester as well as challenges they faced in relation to the pandemic,” Fournier said.
At this time, Fournier isn’t sure when the new surveys will be distributed to students.
