Elon’s Student Perceptions of Teaching, a survey sent to students to provide feedback on each course and professor, provides data that is made available to faculty members for all semesters the survey is completed. This data, while names have been removed, has previously been released to faculty after the deadline for submitting grades has passed, to avoid any grading bias. This semester, data was sent to faculty members this week, while finals are being administered and grades are not finalized.
The data sent to faculty members includes some demographic information such as how many absences each respondent has had and their grade in the class, as well as comments from individual students. This year, SPoTs were collected with a new software system, and the data was sent out early to faculty members by mistake, according to a statement from Jason Husser, assistant provost for academic excellence and integrity.
“A scheduling error within that system inadvertently sent limited reports to the appropriate faculty but earlier than our normal practice,” Husser said.
Results from SPoTs are shared with faculty members, department chairs and deans of schools, according to Elon’s Faculty Handbook. The purpose of the results is for faculty members to have feedback from students and results may also be submitted in faculty members applications for tenure and or promotions.