Faculty Evaluations Online

While monitoring of faculty performance will be ongoing, faculty evaluations are completed on an annual basis, at a minimum, under the direction of the school Dean and facilitated by the Director of Academic Support. Evaluations are based on the faculty’s self-assessment, data collected from the End of Course Surveys, and spot-check reviews involving the Classroom Evaluation Rubric (CER). An example of the rubric form can be found at the end of this document in the Appendix. Results of the evaluations are available upon request. The CER is directly aligned to the Faculty Outcomes listed at the beginning of this handbook, which are also reviewed below.

There are six categories for the Classroom Evaluation Rubric, each with several sub-indicators. Refer to the Appendix for more details.

Instructional Effectiveness
Active Engagement
Responsiveness
Quality Feedback
Community Development
Classroom Compliance

Classroom Visits

After the self-reflection by faculty in the very beginning, the Dean, Assistant Dean, Program Director and/or Director of Academic Support will visit faculty classrooms intermittently and use the CER tool to score the classroom effectiveness practices. Following the classroom visit, the data will be submitted to the Dean of the school who will follow-up with the faculty member (either email or phone) to discuss the results, if warranted. Both strengths and weaknesses will be addressed, with the focus on maximizing the faculty’s impact on student success in the online classroom.

Evaluation Process, Timeline and Frequency

Classroom visits with the CER will vary by faculty member, based on previous performances and length of time working for Aspen. If the faculty is new, Aspen will visit their classroom early on in their course assignment timeline (usually within the first month or two of teaching). Subsequent visits will be based on overall performance on the CER, with F1 faculty being visited more frequently (e.g., every two months or so), with F2 and F3 faculty being visited less frequently (e.g., twice a year). The frequency will depend on “newness” to Aspen and/or overall score on CER for all faculty, experienced or new. Scores for CERs will be submitted to the respective Dean of each school upon completion of the review so that they are aware of performance and can follow-up with positive and/or constructive discussions, as needed. F-status rankings are used for course assignments, with F3 being given high priority for first course assignments.

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