Managing Faculty Collective Bargaining Agreements
In many state university systems and community college districts, faculty participation in student evaluations is governed by collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). Tenured, tenure-track, and adjunct instructors often have different contractual rules regarding which course sections are evaluated, how often evaluations take place, and whether results are used for promotion and tenure.
Historically, tracking these contract rules required significant administrative effort. Academic affairs staff spent weeks circulating paper declaration forms or maintaining spreadsheets across academic departments before manually updating survey rosters.
Automated Decision Periods
To streamline this process, SurveyDIG built the Opt-In / Opt-Out Module, which has run in production across state institutions for over eight years.
Instead of tracking choices in spreadsheets, the system automates the workflow:
- Automated Notification Schedule: At the start of the evaluation planning window, the system automatically emails faculty members their course list.
- One-Click Decision Portal: Instructors click a secure link to review their assigned sections and indicate their participation status based on contract rules.
- Dynamic Population Adjustment: The moment faculty confirm their choices, SurveyDIG updates the survey population in real time—ensuring students only receive surveys for participating courses.
- Administrative Audit Controls: Academic deans and department administrators retain complete visibility with review lists and search filters (by professor, course number, or department), allowing authorized overrides when needed.
Respecting Faculty Governance
Automating CBA compliance eliminates manual roster errors, avoids union grievances over unauthorized evaluations, and saves academic affairs staff hours of spreadsheet reconciliation each term.