The Course Evaluations committee is comprised of Mike Serra (Co-Chair), Suzanne Tapp (Co-Chair), Raegan Higgins, Angela Lumpkin, Kerk Kee, Jason Headrick, Tara Stevens, and Taylin Antonick. For more information, please contact Suzanne Tapp

Context: The Teaching Academy and the TLPDC with the support of the Office of the Provost are committed to changing the culture of teaching at Texas Tech University. Our goal is to shift our campus culture to a triangulated teaching evaluation process that includes course evaluations, self-reflection of one's own teaching, and peer evaluation of teaching. This committee will examine course evaluations at Texas Tech from an evidence-based perspective to consider what the research suggests about the validity of this measurement, the potential biases, and the information we can gather about student perceptions of their learning.

Committee Goals:

• Review course evaluations from other institutions to consider adding items to the TTU standard set of evaluation questions. 
• Identify capabilities with SmartEvals for customization and data analysis.
• Consider building a set of standard questions and a bank of additional questions for customization.
• Consider re-naming course evaluations to more accurately represent the purpose of the tool.
• Host a student focus group for additional feedback regarding the course evaluation process.
• Gather feedback from other stakeholder groups on campus (Provost Office, Faculty Senate, Chair Academy, Academic Council, etc.)
• Create recommendations for the appropriate use of course evaluations.
• Prepare a final report for the Office of the Provost.

Course Evaluation Examples & Information from Other Institutions

• Aligning Practice to Policies: Changing the Culture to Recognize and Reward Teaching at Research Universities
• Instructor Reflections- University of Oregon
• Self-Reflective Teaching Statement for Annual Merit Review- University of Colorado Boulder
• Student Experience Survey- University of Oregon
• The Teaching Self-Reflection Tool and Skills Checklist
• USC Excellence in Teaching Initiative

• With the goal to document the efforts instructors have made this fall semester to address our unique teaching situation, the Teaching Academy and TLPDC are recommending self-reflection using already available areas in Digital Measures that can be found here.
• A self-reflection tool created by Dr. Jason Headrick, Assistant Professor , Agricultural Education & Communications, Texas Tech University.

Peer teaching observation is when a colleague observes your teaching efforts. This colleague may be in your discipline area or it may be someone outside your expertise area. The observation should be conducted with the mindset of identifying both areas of teaching prowess and areas of improvement. Find out more information here.