It is not mandatory for students to participate in FLEX surveys. A provost’s task force is being charged to explore mechanisms to encourage higher student participation or whether to make it mandatory.
Author: Alyssa Marie Aiello
Will it be mandatory for instructors to use FLEX in their courses?
Instructors should follow the procedures for collecting student feedback established by their academic units. While all units are required to collect and use student feedback as part of broader teaching evaluation processes, the FLEX system may not be appropriate for some instructors or some units.
Will I be able to use FLEX for my course?
CITL will automatically schedule a FLEX survey on Explorance Blue for all eligible courses. By default, the set of eligible courses excludes Independent Study (IND) sections, Research (RES) sections, internship and study abroad sections without a classroom component, and sections consisting only of a series of speakers . Please contact CITL at flex@illinois.edu if a FLEX survey has […]
Who is overseeing/implementing the transition to the new system?
The transition to the new platform (Blue) and survey (FLEX) is being overseen by a provost’s task force in consultation with representatives from tenure-track and specialized faculty across disciplines. The task force has engaged stakeholders including faculty senate subcommittees (e.g., General University Policy, Education Policy, IT), Illinois Student Council, and CITL. CITL is executing the […]
What does the transition mean for instructors in my unit?
All courses/instructors that were eligible to receive ICES ratings will still be eligible to receive FLEX ratings. Just as with ICES, CITL will work with the Registrar’s Office and units to automatically initiate the process for creating a FLEX survey for each eligible course/instructor. As with ICES, instructors and units will have the opportunity to […]
What does the transition mean to me as an instructor/faculty member?
All courses/instructors that were eligible to receive ICES ratings will still be eligible to receive FLEX ratings. Just as with ICES, CITL will work with the Registrar’s Office and units to automatically initiate the process for creating a FLEX survey for each eligible course/instructor. As with ICES, instructors and units will have the opportunity to […]
How will the change to FLEX affect graduate student teaching assistants?
Graduate teaching assistants who were eligible to administer ICES will also be eligible to administer FLEX. TAs will be able to elect to receive the global ICES items for a couple more years like faculty if they wish to keep those items. Because most TAs have minimal control over course design, we will explore providing […]
Will we have access to the FLEX results?
A provost’s task force will explore best practices and recommendations for whether/how to make FLEX results available to students. The Illinois Student Council (ISC) is allowed to add a few items to the FLEX survey that they would then be free to make available to students. ISC has not yet created these items.
Do I have to fill out the FLEX survey?
All students are strongly encouraged to complete the FLEX survey for each class they take that administers the survey. A campus task force will explore whether our campus will provide incentives for students who complete FLEX surveys.
Will I have to fill out a FLEX survey for every course I take?
In general, you will fill out a separate FLEX survey for every course you take. There will be a few exceptions such as independent studies, research courses, and courses in units that have elected to use other sources of student feedback.