UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Student Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTE) opened on Monday, April 18, and will remain open until midnight on Sunday, May 1, before the beginning of finals.
The SRTE is a critical way to gather student feedback and ensure the quality of Penn State's courses.
Students will receive an email directing them to http://rateteaching.psu.edu. The SRTEs are available to both ANGEL and Canvas users; ANGEL simply includes a hyperlink to the SRTEs.
Faculty should go to the website to confirm that courses they expect to be rated are listed on the site. If a course is not listed, the SRTE forms have not been assigned and faculty should contact the staff member responsible for setting up SRTEs in their department or at their campus to correct the error.
Faculty attitudes are the primary determinant of student participation. Faculty who genuinely express that they a) read the SRTEs, b) make changes based on student feedback, and 3) care about students views, have the highest response rates.
Faculty who mention that the SRTEs are part of the faculty evaluation process should be careful to avoid implying that they are only interested in positive ratings or only interested in how it will personally impact the faculty member's salary, promotion or reappointment. Faculty can avoid such misperceptions by focusing comments on how student feedback improves the course and their teaching.
Students may not remember course or faculty names, so it is a good idea to remind students to make sure they are rating the correct course.
A mobile-friendly version of the SRTEs allows students to begin the SRTEs in class. Faculty should leave the classroom if students are working on their SRTEs.
Finally, faculty may want to wait to submit final grades until after the SRTE offering period ends at midnight on Sunday, May 1.