University of Georgia

In 2022, faculty working on the DeLTA project at UGA shepherded a new teaching evaluation policy that established expectations for departments to evaluate teaching using the three voices, instructor/self, peer, and student voices. This policy aimed to better support and recognize teaching effectiveness, provide meaningful and trustworthy information, and ensure fairness while minimizing bias. The policy did not propose changes to the existing student evaluation survey items. Many faculty and administrators were dissatisfied with the survey items, which were criticized for emphasizing instructor likeability, being subject to bias, failing to yield useful information to improve teaching, and leading to the inappropriate use of means to compare faculty in evaluations. Another issue with UGA's survey process is that we currently lack a centralized system for administering the surveys, so each unit manages their own process. DeLTA saw an opportunity to instigate change with the upcoming adoption of a new centralized system. If the institution is going to roll out a brand new system and change how the survey is administered, then why not use this as an opportunity to redesign the survey items, too?

The DeLTA team adopted a grassroots approach to design a new student evaluation of teaching survey. The process followed three overlapping phases: Learning the lay of the land, designing the survey itself, and institutionalizing the survey through policy.

Learning the Lay of the Land

The DeLTA team knew from prior experience that UGA's institutional identity and brand were important to the institution, so they conducted comprehensive research to understand how UGA values teaching. This process included an analysis of UGA's mission statement, strategic initiatives, teaching-related policies, promotion and tenure criteria, annual evaluation criteria across all 80+ units, teaching awards, and professional development opportunities.

To avoid reinventing the wheel, the team also reviewed surveys from LCC4 institutions. They reached out to individuals at two LCC4 institutions who made recent changes to their surveys, to get advice on how to involve stakeholders in the design process, how to best manage the change process, and how to avoid potential pitfalls.

Designing the Survey

Drawing inspiration from the University of Oregon's approach, which centered their survey around institutionally-valued teaching elements, the DeLTA team developed a UGA-specific version that prioritized learning. The initial development process began with conducting a thematic analysis of all teaching-related documents from the first phase of the project, generating an initial list of teaching elements from the thematic categories, and iteratively refining the elements as a team.

The team then solicited input and feedback from stakeholders at UGA. They conducted multiple rounds of focus groups with faculty of varying ranks, positions, and disciplines, and surveyed students of varying levels and years. The focus groups and surveys asked participants to brainstorm possible questions, and then provide input on how they value and use instructional feedback to improve teaching, the drafted teaching elements, and the example survey structure from the University of Oregon. The teaching elements and survey items were iteratively revised using stakeholder input during this phase of the project.

The last part of the design process involved piloting the survey in courses across the institution. The goal of the course pilots was to ensure that students were able to interpret the survey items as expected. The team recruited diverse faculty volunteers from across campus and provided them with customized feedback reports as compensation. The survey was revised each semester of the course pilot based on how students responded to the survey items.

Institutionalizing through Policy

The final phase focused on institutionalizing the survey through policy, which leveraged the team's existing expertise in faculty governance. The team first shared their progress with allied administrators in the Office of Instruction, who were overseeing the implementation of the new centralized system. The team presented the new survey items and design process to them, queried them about the technical feasibility of the survey within the new system, and solicited advice on the best path forward.

The original 2022 teaching evaluation policy was revised, then presented to two education-related committees during the 2024-2025 academic year. To prepare for these meetings, the DeLTA team prepared comprehensive informational materials that documented how the survey was developed and shared evidence that the survey works as intended. The revised policy was endorsed by both committees and advanced to the next committee up. The policy was returned to the original committee for further consideration. The team is continuing to have discussions with stakeholders Summer 2025, and plans to go back to the original committee for a vote again in Fall 2025.

Key Influences

This project was significantly informed by the experiences of colleagues in LCC4 institutions, including the University of Oregon and University of Oklahoma. Much of this project would not have been feasible without their guidance and support. The team also relied heavily on the surveys uploaded to the LT3 repository, which served as examples to iterate upon during the initial part of the design process.