SFQ & Teaching Evaluation

The faculty/school-based SFQ instrument, guidelines and procedures was first developed in 2000/01 by a Faculty Working Party comprising one member each from all departments/institute in FCLU and one member from the Educational Development Centre. The system has subsequently been reviewed and revised in 2001/02.

In May 2005, a Working Group was set up by the Learning and Teaching Committee (LTC) to conduct a comprehensive study of the guidelines and procedures with a view to recommending changes, where appropriate, to the system so that the collection of student feedback in PolyU will align with the outcome-based approach to teaching, learning and assessment adopted by the University. The Final Report of the Working Group, which includes recommendations for relevant changes to the system, was endorsed by LTC at its 30th meeting held on 4 October 2006.

The following set of guidelines has been developed with reference to the broad institutional framework for collecting student feedback endorsed by LTC.

The Student Feedback Questionnaire (SFQ) for FCLU

1. The FCLU SFQ Form consists of two main parts: "About the Subject" and "About the Staff Member". The first evaluates the learning experience of the subject. The second provides feedback on the teaching of the staff member. The Educational Development Centre (EDC) will be responsible for analysing the results.

2. Only the results of "About the Staff Member" should be considered in the Staff Performance Appraisal; hence, the SFQ mean scores for an individual staff member should only relate to the section "About the Staff Member".

3. Whether the SFQ should be administered at the middle of a semester or near the end of a semester would be at the discretion of each department. Notwithstanding, for subjects taught by only one teacher, it is strongly recommended that the SFQ be conducted half way through the semester.

4. To address the issue of team/shared teaching, the part "About the Staff Member" would only be required for that teacher who handles 50% or above of the teaching for a subject.

5. Schedule for cycle of evaluations: Every teacher should have his/her teaching assessed every two years in respect of all subjects taught. Every teacher should be assessed once a year in at least one subject taught.

I. About the subject

Section I
This first section focuses on students’ feedback on the subject and is sub-divided into two parts:

Section IA: This part consists of five university-wide standard items of the closed-response type, asking students to express their views on their learning experience of the subject.

Section IB: This part contains one open-ended question which asks students to comment on their learning experience of the subject and suggest how it can be improved.

II. About the staff member

Section II
This second section is aims to collect students’ feedback on the teaching of the staff member and is sub-divided into three parts:

Section IIA: This part has six questions of the close-response type, in which four are core Faculty/School items and two are university-wide standard items. The four core items focus on the various aspects of the staff member's teaching, and the two standard items ask for students’ overall view about the teaching of the staff member.

Section IIB: This part contains one university-wide standard item on the extent to which the staff member has used English during teaching. Section IIC: This part contains one open-ended question which invites students to comment on the staff member’s teaching and suggest how it can be improved.

Use and Limitations

The design of the questionnaire caters mainly for the evaluation of subject/teaching that is classroom-based. For the evaluation of subject/teaching that is web-based, project-based, etc., departments/individual staff members can develop their methods as appropriate

Printing and assembling of forms

The SFQ for FCLU optical-mark-read forms are available from the EDC. The departmental AO/EO is responsible for assembling sufficient copies of the forms for distribution. The forms should be put in a sealed envelope with a duly completed FCLU SFQ Administration Form attached to it.

Distribution and collection of forms

1. The procedures for distributing and collecting the SFQ forms are essentially the same as those in the original SFQ system.

2. The departmental AO/EO is responsible for arranging a suitable person to distribute and collect the SFQ forms at the date, time, and venue suggested by the staff member or Subject Leader concerned.

3. The staff member concerned should be absent from the room during the process of distributing, completing, and collecting the SFQ forms.

4. Completed SFQ forms should be put in a sealed envelope, signed and returned to the departmental AO/EO, who will then pass them to the EDC for data input and analysis.

5. To ensure the validity of the student responses, the person(s) responsible for distributing and collecting the forms should follow strictly the procedures specified below.

Procedures for distributing and collecting SFQ forms

1. Before distributing the SFQ forms, explain to students:

that the PolyU has a policy of systematically collecting student feedback on teaching;
that the feedback given will be useful to the staff member for improving his/her teaching, and the overall results will also be considered in the staff appraisal exercise;
that their feedback is anonymous, and will not affect their assessment grades; and
the numerical data will be processed by the EDC, while the open-ended comments will be read by the staff member only after the exam results are finalised.

2. Distribute the SFQ forms to the students individually by hand. Do not circulate the forms.
3. Copy the subject name, subject code and staff name from the SFQ Administration Form onto the whiteboard, and ask students to copy them clearly onto the SFQ form.
4. Encourage students to respond to the open-ended questions in a critical and constructive way.
5. Give students sufficient time to complete the forms. Normally, they need 15 minutes to answer fully.
6. Collect the forms when everyone has finished.
7. Count the number of completed SFQ forms collected, enter the number onto the SFQ Administration Form on the envelope, and sign it. Then put all the completed SFQ forms into the envelope and seal it .
8. Return the sealed SFQ Envelope, together with the unused SFQ forms, to the departmental EO/AO immediately afterwards.

Analysis and reporting of the SFQ data

1. The EDC will be responsible for analysing and reporting of the SFQ data. Two different sets of results will be reported - one focusing on the teaching of the subject alone, and the other incorporating the results of both the teaching of the subject and the staff member.

2. Individual staff member teaching the subject will receive both the reports on his/her teaching and on the teaching of the subject. Summaries of the results will also be made available to the Dean of the faculty on request. A copy of the same report will be sent to the respective head of department. The staff member can provide relevant information to the Head of Department about the contexts of teaching on the Form for Staff Comments if he/she so wishes.

3. A copy of the report on the teaching of the subject will be sent to the department concerned for programme or subject evaluation purposes, and will be made available to the programme/subject team.

4. After the exam results have been finalised, the completed SFQ forms will be returned to the staff member concerned - so that he/she can peruse the students' responses to the open-ended questions.

Interpretation and use

1. Various faculty/school and departmental norms based on different class sizes, study modes, subject levels and programme stages will be computed by the EDC. The faculty/school norms will be made available on the Web.

2. Results of the SFQ can be used as follows:

(i) The individual staff member will use the results for reflection and making improvements in various aspects of his/her teaching.

(ii) The appraiser will discuss the SFQ and its results with staff member in the Staff Performance Appraisal meeting for both judgmental and developmental purposes.

(iii) The Programme Leader will review and discuss the teaching/students' learning with the staff members concerned for the Programme and its development.

(iv) Chairperson of the Departmental Learning & Teaching Committee can review the teaching/students' learning for developmental purposes.

3. The student feedback results should be treated just as one source of information for appraisal and judgmental purposes. SFQ gives only perceptions of students and deeper investigation is necessary for a better analysis/use. Student feedback results should be interpreted in context and in conjunction with comments provided by the staff member concerned. Reference should be drawn from other valuable information, including peer reviews, for the evaluation of the teaching performance of a staff member. For critical personnel decisions, a more comprehensive review is required.

Confidentiality

1. Confidentiality is emphasised in the SFQ exercise. All SFQ data and reports on individual staff members are treated by the EDC as confidential to that staff member, except that a copy of the SFQ results will be produced for the respective head of department.

2. The EDC will not keep any hard copy of the SFQ results, and will not disclose the SFQ data of an individual staff member to anybody other than the staff member and the head of department concerned, or discuss it with anybody else.

Enquiry about policies and procedural guidelines

All matters in relation to the policies and procedures of the administration of the FCLU SFQ should be addressed to the respective Chairperson of the Departmental Learning & Teaching Committee., or directly to the Dean when faculty-level decisions are warranted.

Help from the EDC

The EDC assists the Faculty/School in processing and reporting the SFQ results. Help is available from EDC for individual faculty/school members in interpreting their SFQ results, and planning teaching improvements based on the results. Please contact the persons indicated below if you need any help.

For	Contact
Obtaining FCLU SFQ forms and returning forms for data analysis	Miss Jenny Yung, EO (x6292) E-mail: etjyung
Queries about data analysis and advice on interpretation of SFQ result	Dr. K.P. Kwan, SEDO (x6320) E-mail: etkpkwan
Advice on alternative forms of evaluation , and planning teaching improvements on the basis of feedback	Dr. K.P. Kwan, SEDO (x6320) E-mail: etkpkwan

Online help

Online information and help are also available on the EDC Website for other forms of teaching evaluations and the interpretation of SFQ results: http://edc.polyu.edu.hk/sfq-collect.htm

Norms

An interactive tool for interpreting your SFQ score

Sample forms
The Student Feedback Questionnaire for FCLU
Form for Staff Comments