INTRODUCTION

IDEA stands for "Individual Development and Educational Assessment" and is the flagship product of The IDEA Center, "a nonprofit organization whose mission is to serve colleges and universities committed to improving learning, teaching, and leadership performance." Their IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction system factors out extraneous circumstances and focuses on student learning of 12 specific objectives.

The IDEA Center can tailor each report to fit the instructor's selected learning objectives and offer recommendations for improvement based on their vast national database. Reader-friendly faculty reports not only summarize teaching success, but also provide insight on how to improve. Additionally, the Student Ratings of Instruction system solicits students' feedback on their own learning progress, effort, and motivation, as well as their perceptions of the instructor's use of 20 instructional strategies and teaching methods.

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AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME

Since 1980, Kutztown University has considered replacing or amending its instrument for measuring student ratings of instruction of faculty(SRI). In 1992 and again in 1999, APSCUF-KU Representative Council passed motions approving the use of the IDEA Instrument. More recently, an ad hoc SRI Task Force Committee in 2007-2008 unanimously concluded that KU’s current instrument was a poor tool for evaluating teaching performance and recommended that Kutztown University consider adopting the IDEA Instrument1. [1] 

The KU IDEA Task Force has met regularly since the start of the 2008 Fall Semester to consider whether the IDEA Instrument was a good fit for Kutztown University. To support this effort, APSCUF-KU, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Student Government Board, and the University Senate authorized the committee to conduct a pilot program to gauge faculty and student support for the current SRI and the IDEA Instrument, and to identify possible administrative and contractual issues a switch to the IDEA Instrument would raise.

The KU IDEA Task Force's complete report is available for downloading by clicking HERE. This Web site has been created to give an overview of the key portions of that report. Please refer to the report itself for more details.