Northeastern University

Why TRACE?

Successful communication of knowledge and ways of knowing are a central part of the mission of Northeastern University. Much of this communication takes place in the classroom and is directed by our faculty. There are many ways to organize a course and to be a good teacher and there are many ways to measure successful teaching. One way is to ask learners for their opinion of the course and what they learned.

The TRACE survey was developed by a committee with representation from the Student Government Association (SGA) and the faculty. It was adopted by a vote of the faculty senate on Feb. 28, 2007. This survey was designed to be delivered with a new, web-based, on-line survey system called CoursEval which is run by an outside vendor, Academic Management Systems. When this survey was developed the committee agreed that it would be given anonymously and that the results would be published promptly for the NU community. The results will be used to:

1. improve teaching at NU. Receiving feedback shortly after teaching a class helps faculty learn how their course and their teaching are perceived by students. Many teachers collect feedback from students as a course proceeds however, since TRACE is anonymous and clearly separated from grades, it can have the advantage that students feel freer to offer honest assessment. When this feedback is provided in a timely manner, faculty can use it to examine their methodology and style and use it to inform some aspects of their teaching plans as they prepare for the next semester. The Center for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CIETL) can provide support to faculty in this endeavor.
2. provide guidance for students to choose courses and instructors. To the extent that students can choose their courses and/or their instructors they should be able to do so based on data rather than hearsay. In fact, the main reward for student participation in TRACE is the promise of useful data. Allowing students to see free-form comments as well as aggregated scores furthers this goal. Although not perfect, TRACE results can be expected to be more reliable than the grapevine or outside surveys such as those provided by ratemyprofessor.com.
3. measure overall student satisfaction with classroom teaching at NU. The aggregated TRACE results for each semester provide a "big picture" view of how we are doing in this important part of the NU mission. They are one measure that can be used to justify resource allocation.
4. help in personnel decisions such as merit and tenure. We know from past experience with TCEP (the former student rating system) that TRACE will be used as one of the measures of successful teaching. Unfortunately, if no other data on teaching performance is provided by individual faculty and their units, it may also be the only measure used. Other important measures which should be used to complement TRACE can include: peer review by individuals or committees that visit classes and review course materials; assessment of student work by faculty, peers, or outside experts; descriptions of teaching philosophy and innovations; use of the Blackboard learning management system to document materials and methods. CIETL is available to work with individuals and groups to assess and document teaching methods.