Introduction
Students for the Improvement of Teaching (SIT) is a student course evaluation program sponsored by the UIC Undergraduate Student Government (USG). Beginning Spring 2000, USG started working with the Office of Academic Affairs to ensure that student evaluations are distributed, collected, and analyzed in a timely and efficient manner. The SIT program provides instructors with student feedback on various aspects of courses.

• Consistent Instrument—the basic SIT course evaluation questionnaire will remain unchanged, and will not change for ten years, allowing faculty to develop a longitudinal picture of their teaching over a significant period of time. A copy of the SIT instrument is available in .pdf format (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

• Stable Administration—distribution and analysis of the course evaluations will be performed by Academic Affairs, ensuring that instruments and feedback are received in a timely manner

• Flexibility—the SIT instrument allows faculty members to add course and/or instructor specific questions to the evaluation

• Cost—participation in the SIT program is free to all UIC instructors, TAs, departments, programs, schools, and colleges
  
  
• Credibility with Students—since the SIT program is sponsored by Undergraduate Student Government, students can be confident that their honest, anonymous opinions are being sought

• Improved Feedback for Instructors---the redesigned SIT Summary Sheet provides useful information for instructors on each instrument item, including mean, standard deviation, and frequency distrinutions.

Participation in the Program
Instructors can inform the SIT program of their intent to participate in two ways. First, departments and programs can inform the SIT program of all of the courses and instructors for which they desire forms. Second, individual instructors may request forms for their own classes. We do ask that instructors check with their departments before requesting forms to ensure that courses are not double counted. Information on requesting forms is included below for both departments and programs and individual instructors.

Departments and Programs
Deparments and programs can use the SIT program to gather student feedback on all of their courses. Departments and programs may request forms via e-mail at teaching@uic.edu . Departments and programs will then be asked to confirm course information (instructor, enrollment, etc.) from the Timetable information for each of their courses.

Please do not request forms from USG. All forms must be requested from the Teaching and Learning Center. Packets containing course evaluation forms for each course for which evaluations were requested will be distributed no later than two (2) weeks before the end of classes in the Fall and Spring semester, one (1) week for Summer courses. Departments needing packets earlier should contact the the Teaching and Learning Center at 413-9166 to make special arrangements for obtaining forms..

Individual Instructors
Participation in the SIT program is open to all UIC instructors. Instructors should check with their department or program office before contacting the SIT program to ensure that their department or program has not already registered their courses for the program. Participation in the SIT program does not exempt an instructor from participating in any existing department, program, school, or college student evaluation system.

Please do not request forms from USG. All forms must be requested from the Teaching and Learning Center. To participate, instructors must return a request form. The request form is available in HTML format. Instructors are asked to provide information regarding the instructor’s name, department, course number(s), enrollments in each course for which evaluations are being requested, and each course's unique five-digit call number (available from the Timetable). This information is vital to making sure that the data is analyzed and reports are distributed to faculty in a timely manner. An e-mail confirmation will be sent to each instructor upon receipt of a completed request form. Packets with requested student evaluation forms will be distributed two (2) weeks prior to the scheduled end of classes for the Fall and Spring semesters, one (1) week for Summer classes. Instructors needing forms earlier should contact the Teaching and Learning Center at 413-9166 to make special arrangements.

The SIT Student Evaluation Instrument
The SIT student evaluation instrument is a general use student evaluation questionnaire. It asks students to rate many facets of a course including the instructor, content, and materials. The instrument also asks students to make a comparative assessment of the overall quality of the course. Students are also given the opportunity to write specific comments. A sample of the SIT instrument is available in .pdf format (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

The SIT instrument also allows instructors to add up to four additional questions to the questionnaire. These items can be tailored to meet the individual needs of the instructor, course, or department/program. The results of these questions will be analyzed and reported to instructors as the other item summaries are.

Summary Reports of Student Evaluations
Instructors who participate in the program will receive a summary of results for each item on the student evaluation instrument. This summary will include the mean, the standard deviation, and a frequency distribution for each item. A sample of the results summary is available on-line. Reports will be sent directly to the instructor and to the department or program offering the course. If a course is cross-listed, the departmental/program report will be sent to the department/program identified by the instructor as her/his home department/program.

Preliminary reports will include a means for instructors to request that their evaluation(s) be reanalyzed if the instructor believes that there may be an error. Instructions on how to take advantage of this option will accompany summary reports.

For More Information
More information on the SIT program is available on the USG web page. Information is also available by calling the Office of Special Academic Programs’ Teaching Help Desk at 413-9166 or via e-mail at teaching@uic.edu.

Last Modified on October 5, 2001