Watch this brief video for an introduction on the origin of the SEL survey.
Based on widespread recognition across the university that the current course feedback survey was prone to bias and was often over-emphasized in faculty review for Promotion and Tenure and contract renewals, the UNH Faculty Senate convened a broadly representative committee to investigate. After nearly a year of research and deliberations, the Ad Hoc committee provided the senate with a new survey instrument and guidelines that defined the role of student surveys of teaching and learning in demonstrating teaching effectiveness for the purpose of annual reviews, renewal, promotion, and tenure decisions.
On 4/11/22, the faculty senate passed a motion that endorses the committee’s report and process for piloting the new survey which will replace the prior Course Feedback form. The new instrument is called the Student Experience of Learning (SEL) survey. The senate motion includes the pilot process for deploying the instrument across the entire institution, recommendations for how the results from the instrument are to be considered by departments and colleges, and a plan to reconvene in fall 2023 to analyze data and review comments about the instrument’s performance.
The Ad Hoc committee reviewed evidence about the objectives of gathering student feedback on courses, best practices for collecting, interpreting, and utilizing such feedback for a variety of purposes, and guidelines for how to prepare students to engage in this process. In doing so, the group identified two fundamental principles guiding the use of student feedback.
First, the purpose of such feedback is to provide formative feedback for the instructor, and second, feedback is valuable as a contributing (but not sole) factor in assessing teaching effectiveness. As such, the committee organized their findings and recommendations into three main areas: guidance for instructors, guidance for students, and guidance for administrators and peer review committees (such as reappointment, promotion, and tenure).
The guidelines are intended to address the following concerns: student unconscious bias towards instructors of various identities; validity concerns related to low response rates; over-reliance on summary quantitative measures in organizational assessment/promotion processes to the exclusion of other types of data; and the unstated assumption that students can meaningfully evaluate teaching. To address this last point, the name of the survey is now Student Experiences of Learning (SEL) survey, as the survey responses are really data about student perceptions. While much of the information is included on this website, please reference the Policies and Procedures for further detail.
The specific guidelines for Instructors, Students, and Others are available through this page.
***Note that additional resources have been added to the Guidelines for Instructors section linked above.
The committee recommends applying the instrument for a 3-year trial during which data will be assessed systematically at several levels (e.g., UNH Survey Center, ET&S, AAUP, colleges, departments, instructors, students) to determine the instruments’ performance, efficacy, and utility for collecting meaningful information about courses and teaching practices. Pilot steps include:
Step 1. Summer 2022: First roll out to include the common questions section and Discovery optional questions.
Step 2. Fall 2022: End of fall term 2022 will include common questions section, Discovery optional questions, instructor questions, and department questions. Formalize process for department/college questions to be reviewed and approved.
Step 3. Spring 2023: (1) continue rollout and (2) engage Survey Center to help understand efficacy of common questions and suggest any needed wording modifications. New process for department/college questions in place.
Step 4. Summer 2023: Rollout full survey instrument with any modifications to common questions from the assessment of responses and cognitive interviews (partnership between Institutional Research and Assessment and the Survey Center).
Step 5. Over 2023-2025: Collect information at the end of each semester (fall, J-term, spring, summer) and analyze survey effectiveness.
Step 6. Fall 2024 – Spring 2025: Assess instrument performance and convene an Ad Hoc committee in Fall 2024 to assess all data and information about how well the instrument performed in 1) providing information that is useful for students in giving feedback; and 2) providing meaningful information for P&T and contract reviews and instructor development, with a summary report and recommendations due Spring 2025.
Faculty senate, both student senates (undergraduate and graduate), and administration will work together within and across colleges to increase student survey response. An initial first step includes an information and communication campaign, as well as collecting student feedback on the pilot instrument. If unsuccessful in increasing response rates, then other process points (e.g., delaying grade release) should be considered by an ad hoc committee.
