my.ryerson.ca

Teaching@Ryerson

Guidelines for Instructors

Faculty Course Survey

Guidelines for Instructors and Faculty Members

FCS Schedule
Course Validation
Adding Optional Questions to the Online Surveys
Using Same Set of Questions in Multiple Course Sections: Templates
Survey Release
Viewing Survey Results
Who to Contact for Help

Important!

Online Surveys

All course sections taught by RFA, CUPE Unit 1 and CUPE Unit 2 instructors are evaluated online
All Chang School courses are evaluated online

Paper-Based Surveys

RFA probationary members are required to participate in paper-based surveys in addition to the online process
All RFA non-probationary members may choose to participate in paper-based surveys in addition to the online process
Paper surveys are not printed for course sections taught by CUPE Unit 1 and/or CUPE Unit 2 instructors

FCS SCHEDULE

Fall 2013

FCS Stage	Date
Course Validation	September 18 - October 8
Survey modification (adding optional questions to the online surveys)	October 15 - October 29
Online evaluation	November 8, 6 p.m. - November 18, 6 a.m.
Paper-based in-class evaluation	November 19 - December 2
Deadline for returning completed paper forms to the Senate	December 3
Results of Faculty Course Survey available to instructors	Soon after Fall 2013 grade submission deadline

COURSE VALIDATION

At the beginning of course validation (September or January of each semester), the Chair/Director/Assistant of your department, or a Program Director/Assistant if you teach Chang School or graduate course(s), will send you an email notifying that the list of courses to be evaluated is ready for your review. You will be asked to confirm that the list of courses is correct.

Note that, depending on the courses you teach, you may receive separate notification emails from your undergraduate program, graduate studies program(s) and/or continuing education program(s). You must respond to each notification email you receive in order to validate all courses that you teach!
To view the list of courses, log in to my.ryerson.ca (Blackboard) using your Ryerson ID and password. Please contact CCS help desk (ext. 6806 or help@ryerson.ca) if you have a login problem.

Note the Web Browser requirement: The online FCS system require web browser of Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, or Mozilla Firefox 1.0 or higher.

On Blackboard (my.ryerson.ca), in the "Hot Links" section on the left side of the screen, click "Faculty Course Survey" link.
The following page will appear:

Click Validation to view the list of your courses.
A new window with the list of courses that you teach will appear:

Please verify the list carefully.
If you find any course that you DO NOT teach, deselect it by clicking the checkbox on the left side.
If one or a few courses that you teach ARE NOT on the list, use the Comments box to indicate that a certain course has been omitted.
Use the Comments box to indicate any other error that you may find on the list.

"Paper-Based" Survey Checkbox

A checkbox which allows to add paper-based surveys to your evaluation (if you are eligible) has been added to the Validation view. This checkbox is:

Enabled for all courses taught by RFA non-probationary members. Click if you want to add paper surveys to your evaluation
Selected by default for all courses taught by RFA probationary members
Disabled for all courses taught by CUPE instructors and all Chang School courses

Once you have finished verifying the list, click the Submit button. The Chair/Director/Assistant of your department will receive an automatic note with the list of confirmed courses and errors if indicated by you.
Note that the online and paper-based surveys will be created according to the list of courses verified and confirmed by you! If you DO NOT verify and confirm the list of courses, the surveys will automatically be created for all courses that appear on your original list.

ADDING OPTIONAL QUESTIONS TO THE ONLINE SURVEYS

The online Faculty Course Survey consists of the following sections:
- 14 University standard questions
- Question 15: This question will be part of all online and in-class surveys; however no member of the RFA shall be required to report the results of this question. A member may choose to submit the results of question 15 and the optional items.
- Optional course specific questions
- Blank space for students to leave comments

Important!

Paper-based surveys consist of 14 University standard questions and additional Question 15.

Optional course specific questions and blank space for students to leave their comments are not part of paper-based surveys.

To add optional questions to your online survey, log in to my.ryerson.ca (Blackboard), "Faculty Course Survey" and click "Surveys".

The "Survey" screen will show you all the courses you have in the survey system.
To add optional questions to a survey, click MODIFY button located on the left side of each course.
You will see the "Modify Survey Details/Questions" screen.

Click "Add Questions" to add questions to the survey.
Select "Find Questions" to view all available optional questions.

Select the questions you would like included in the survey. Use the scroll bar to move up and down the list of questions.

Click "Insert Checked Questions" to add the questions to the survey.
Once you have finished, click "Close".

Added questions will appear an the bottom of the "Modify Survey Details/Questions" screen.
If you would like to remove a question, click the "Remove" button.

Repeat steps 4-12 if you want to add questions to more than one survey.

USING SAME SET OF QUESTIONS IN MULTIPLE COURSE SECTIONS: TEMPLATES

If you have multiple course sections and would like to use the same questions for each survey, you can create a template, save it and then re-use it.
To create a Template, click "Templates" on the upper horizontal menu.

Click the "New Template" button.

Enter the name of the template in the "Template Name" box and click "Add Questions".
Select the questions you would like to be included in your surveys.
Click the "Close" button once you are done.
Click the "SUBMIT" button to save the template.
Now you can select the template to add questions to your survey. Click "Use Templates" and select the template you saved. The questions from the template will be added to your survey.
If you want to make changes to a survey after having logged out of the application, you can log in again and repeat the steps outlined above.
If you do not choose to add optional questions, your survey(s) will be released to students with 14 University standard questions, question 15 and the blank space for written comments.
Note that no changes to surveys will be allowed after the deadline for modifying surveys!

SURVEY RELEASE

Fall 2013 surveys will be released on the following dates:

Online Evaluation:
November 8, 6:00 p.m. to November 18, 6:00 a.m.

Paper-Based Evaluation:
November 19 to December 2

VIEWING SURVEY RESULTS

FCS results become available via the link on my.ryerson.ca soon after Fall or Winter term's grade submission deadline.

To view / download FCS results in a PDF file format, log in to my.ryerson.ca and click "Faculty Course Survey" link. Click "Reports". Select "Semester", then "Report Type":

Report No.	Online Survey Results	Paper-Based Survey Results	Who Can View
1	Results by Faculty	Results by Faculty	Everyone. Results are published on teaching@ryerson website
2	Results by Department in Each Faculty	Results by Department in Each Faculty	Everyone. Results are published on teaching@ryerson website
3	Results by Department and Course	Results by Department and Course	VP, Faculty Affairs only
4	Results by Department, Course and Section	Results by Department, Course and Section	VP, Faculty Affairs only
5	Instructor's Results by Course and Section (14 standard questions) Official results (if paper-based results are not available) Automatically attached to annual reports only if paper-based results are not available	Instructor's Results by Course and Section (14 standard questions) Official Results Automatically attached to annual reports	Instructor only. Available via my.ryerson.ca
6	Response Frequency Distribution by Course and Section (14 standard questions)	Response Frequency Distribution by Course and Section (14 standard questions)	Instructor only. Available via my.ryerson.ca
7*	Question 15* plus Optional Questions (if chosen by Instructor)	Question 15*	Instructor only. Available via my.ryerson.ca
8*	Response Frequency Distribution by Course and Section (Question 15* plus Optional Course Specific Questions)	Response Frequency Distribution by Course and Section (Question 15*)	Instructor only. Available via my.ryerson.ca
9	Written Comments	N/A	Instructor only. Available via my.ryerson.ca
10	Online Survey Monitor	N/A	System administrator only

*Note that the results of Question 15. Overall the faculty member was effective always appear in the first line of the reports 7 and 10.

Whenever paper-based results are available, such results will be considered official. If paper-based results are not available, online results should be considered official.
Only 14 University standard questions' results will be automatically attached to the Annual Reports. Instructors will be able to download any additional FCS report via the link on my.ryerson.ca and attach it to the Annual Report manually.

Please note that although some Faculty Course surveys will be available before the final course drop date, only responses from students who remain in the course will be included in the aggregate results provided to the faculty and department. As is normal practice, no student identity will be linked to any individual responses.