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The Dalhousie University Student Ratings of Instruction (SRI) Program is designed to provide information on students' perceptions of the teaching effectiveness of their instructors. The data is intended for "summative" purposes. That is, the concern is with the overall quality of teaching performance. The questionnaire focuses on those elements of teaching behavior that are correlated to positive student outcomes and other measures of effective teaching; thus, the results are most appropriate for making judgments about general teaching quality and consistency of performance. This standardized system is not meant to supplant teacher-designed "formative" evaluations that provide detailed, diagnostic information for improvement purposes. See Resources for more information on summative and formative evaluation of teaching.

The Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) coordinates the SRI Program, providing questionnaires, data processing and report production and distribution. Support staff in each teaching unit assist by acting as liaisons and in assisting with the distribution and collection of questionnaires.

The information collected from the students is confidential, and access to both the raw data and final reports is strictly controlled. See the procedures for data collection and reporting of results.

The SRI usually consists of two components: a scannable "bubble" questionnaire and separate (optional) questionnaire for students' written comments. As outlined below, data from each questionnaire are treated differently, in accordance with the collective agreement.

Quantitative results based on data from the scannable bubble sheets. Each professor receives a report summarizing the results of the quantitative data for each of his/her classes. In addition, the department head or school director receives a copy of all reports. Reports include quantitative results for each class, departmental means (for either undergraduate or graduate classes, as appropriate), enrollment and response rates, as well as guidelines for interpreting the results.

Qualitative comments. In most departments, students are also given the opportunity to submit written comments. When used by the university for the purpose of evaluating the teaching performance of a faculty member, these comments must be handled according to Articles 18.08 and 18.09 of the Collective Agreement between the Board Governors and the Dalhousie Faculty Association, 2004-2007. Only signed comments may be included in a personnel file or provided to the department head or to other academic administrators, and these signed comments may be revealed to the faculty member they concern without identifying their authors. Unsigned comments are not placed in any personal file and are provided to the instructor only. CLT provides forms for written comments. However, departments may devise their own forms, but all such forms used to gather data to evaluate teaching performance must receive approval from the Senate or relevant Faculty Council.

Please direct comments and suggestions to Carol O'Neil, Centre for Learning and Teaching,
Phone: 494-1895, Fax: 494-3767, Email: Carol.ONeil@Dal.Ca