Every semester, as students near the end of their courses, a standard survey is distributed in classes. The repercussions of these surveys, however, go far beyond the classroom. The survey, known as the IDEA survey, was originally developed at Kansas State University. First brought to RPI in 1999, these surveys play a role in everything from the way a course is taught to whether a professor is given a promotion or tenure. They also impact the packet the Institute submits for accreditation.
The process starts with the professor handing out the forms in class. After everything is collected, all the IDEA surveys in a school are sent together for processing in Lawrence, Kan. The surveys, in turn, get returned to the professor of the class along with a detailed statistical report. This report includes a composite score in three areas: progress on relevant objectives, teaching, and course quality, all on a five-point scale. These scores are then ranked against all other courses offered that semester at the institute, as well as against all other courses offered that used the IDEA survey. Given as an average, the professor and the department can see where they both stand, whether the quality was higher, lower, or similar to other teachers and course offerings.
Dean of Engineering Alan Cramb explained that these scores come into play every year as part of an annual evaluation of faculty performance. Faculty are evaluated on three major criteria: scholarship, teaching, and service. The IDEA survey plays a role in determining how well a professor is scored on the teaching criteria. These annual performance reviews determine salary increases for the next year.
Other than the annual salary increases, the surveys are also taken into account when a professor is up for promotion and tenure. When this happens, every IDEA report from when the professor started teaching at RPI is included. In one case, as Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences John Harrington explained, the professor’s dossier “included over 20 years of IDEA reports.” Also considered under the criteria of teaching are student comments and their advising and mentoring abilities.
The IDEA surveys can even have a very tangible impact on teaching, as Associate Dean of Engineering Richard Smith explained: “In one instance, a teacher has not been allowed to teach a course as a result of feedback from the surveys.” They don’t always just have a negative impact; Assistant Professor Sharra Vostral explained that the student comments are very important to her. As professors receive the processed surveys back, they have the opportunity to read the original comments. “The comments work best when they are constructive,” said Dr. Vostral. “Sometimes I find comments that affirm my teaching methods;” other times, constructive comments can help improve the course. Comments that are not constructive such as “too much reading” are not given much weight.
The School of Science’s biology department will be relying upon the IDEA surveys in part to help structure the new Introduction to Biology course which will be required for all incoming freshmen, said Acting Dean of Science Samuel Wait. The feedback received will help to make the course as valuable as possible to every student over the coming years.
Within the School of Engineering, all courses will be completing the IDEA survey online as part of a pilot program this semester. Dean Cramb hopes that by moving the survey online, students will be able to fill it out at their leisure, generating more constructive feedback. Another benefit comes from the school not needing to handle the over 6,000 IDEA surveys filled out by students in that school alone every semester.
Overall, hopes are that students will use the IDEA surveys to continue providing quality feedback about the courses and teaching at RPI so that methods and classes can continue to be refined.
