Hello Everyone,
Please see message from Laura Goodwin and Joanne Addison below regarding FCQ redesign.
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Hello CU Denver Faculty Members,
A few weeks ago, Laura Goodwin and Joanne Addison sent the message (below) to all CU Denver faculty members, concerning the FCQ redesign project that will be undertaken on the Denver, Colorado Springs, and Boulder campuses this academic year. So far, few very CU Denver faculty members have responded to the short survey that can be found at the project’s website: www.colorado.edu/fcqredesign.
We are hoping that you can take a few minutes to go to the website and complete the survey. The views of our faculty members about this effort are very important. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Laura or Joanne.
Thanks so much!
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Dear CU Denver Faculty Members,
The Denver, Colorado Springs, and Boulder campuses have united to begin the process of redesigning the Faculty Course Questionnaire (FCQ) process and instrument. FCQs are mandated by our Board of Regents as a measure of teaching effectiveness. They are one of many methods for gathering information that can lead to improved teaching and learning (see Multiple Means of Teaching Evaluation Academic Policy Statement: http://www.cu.edu/ope/aps/1009 ).
Our present, paper-based FCQ process is both inefficient and resource-intensive. Further, general feedback from faculty is that the FCQ instrument could be improved as a method of gathering data. Because of the process inefficiencies and instrument improvements desired by faculty, the Vice Provost and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education on the Boulder campus initiated the redesign effort by gathering a team of faculty from the participating campuses. These faculty, along with administrators, staff, and graduate students, began working on this project this past summer and will continue their efforts through the 2016/17 academic year.
The FCQ Executive Committee, which is responsible for top level redesign policy and project implementation, selected Campus Labs to provide the technology platform for the pilot of two new FCQ instruments after comparing multiple FCQ vendors. One of the FCQ instruments is offered by IDEA (http://ideaedu.org/) and is currently used by many campuses around the country. A second instrument is being developed by the Pilot Design Committee based on research on best practices in student course evaluation. One goal of the redesign project is to identify actionable questions that focus on specific teaching practices and behaviors related to improvements in student learning. Additionally, we hope to reduce or eliminate the use of questions having been shown to be especially susceptible to bias in terms of race, gender, and related factors. The FCQ Pilot Design Committee plans to test these two new instruments over the course of the Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 semesters before selecting a final FCQ for the participating campuses. In all classes on the Denver campus, the current FCQ will be used during the 2016-17 academic year. A small number of classes on the Denver campus will be involved in the pilot project; in those classes, both the current and a pilot instrument will be used.
Faculty participation in the pilot project will be voluntary. Throughout the course of the coming academic year, the FCQ Executive Committee will be providing you with regular communication on this project. At any point, if you feel you need more information, please check our website and/or contact one of the committee members from your campus: www.colorado.edu/fcqredesign. A faculty survey, as well as the names of the committee members, can be found at the website.
Thank you very much for your consideration and attention to this information. If you have questions or comments, please contact one of us, or any of the committee members.
Sincerely,
Laura Goodwin
Joanne Addison
