Course-Instructor Survey Policy: What Faculty Should Know

April 2006

Background

The Course-Instructor Survey (CIS) has been administered at the end of each class since the mid 1960s. These surveys provide faculty members with valuable student feedback about teaching and learning approaches and classroom experiences. The surveys are also used to provide feedback to administrators about the effectiveness of a faculty member’s teaching and student rapport. This information, along with a teaching portfolio and peer review of course materials, is used in promotion and tenure decisions.

Policy Revision

Over the past several years, there have been changes in policy for the use and retention of the CIS. The changes are in response to FERPA, The Texas Open Records Act, the Records Retention Schedule, and the university's administrative guidelines. The following list incorporates revised policy and should help clarify how the CIS results will now be distributed and used.

The CIS will continue to be administered each semester and each faculty member will have access to all results for assessing and improving their classes.

CIS results, including handwritten student comments, are official University records and faculty members are responsible for keeping the completed CIS forms secure for a period of 10 years.

Results of the CIS will be used by the administration for reviews of faculty, including during the promotion and tenure process. Thus, upon request of the administration, faculty members will make these surveys available for use in such reviews.

The Office of the Attorney General has deemed that the handwritten comments made by a student are not available to the public due to the privacy rights of the student who wrote the comments because handwriting is personally identifiable.

Faculty members who leave the University for retirement or other employment must give all completed CIS forms to the department.

For More Information

For more information about CIS, faculty members should visit the Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment (DIIA) Web site at http://www.utexas.edu/academic/diia/assessment/course_instructor/index.php.