Explorance to Distribute Cascaded Course Evaluation Framework Developed by the University of Toronto

The course evaluation framework, evalUT, helps educators and institutions improve the teaching and learning experience and make better evidence-based decisions.

Montreal, Canada – March 24, 2016 –Explorance, the leading provider of Learning Experience Management (LEM) solutions, announced today that it will be making evalUT commercially available to the global higher education community. evalUT is the course evaluation framework developed by the University of Toronto.

The University of Toronto, consistently ranked among the top 25 universities in the world, is an internationally recognized research-intensive university committed to teaching excellence. Over the years, the University’s Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation has focused on improving the quality assurance process for course evaluations and the overall student learning experience through data-driven research.

“It is critical to ensure that the process of collecting feedback is in line with the institution’s educational goals so that decisions are made according to what is truly important,” says Professor Susan McCahan, Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education, University of Toronto. “In order to make constructive decisions, educational institutions cannot simply rely on a bank of reliable and valid standardized questions,” Professor McCahan elaborates.

evalUT includes not only a set of validated items, but rather an iterative process, leading to sustainable change. In its cascaded form, the course evaluation framework takes into consideration the teaching and learning priorities across divisions and departments, in order to recognize particular learning contexts which are relevant to stakeholders. As such, evalUT focuses on continuous, evidence-based improvement, stemming from in depth conversations and practices. The evalUT process constantly goes back to stakeholders for feedback and integrates new ideas and emerging priorities. In addition, since evalUT offers a cascaded framework, it prevents a common pitfall in the implementation of course evaluations, where the process is either too centralized at the institutional level or too decentralized at the instructor level.

Other institutions are already benefitting from the framework. “evalUT has been very helpful in our efforts to improve our approach to incorporating student feedback into the professional development of SFU instructors. The framework has the flexibility needed to encourage engagement at all levels in the organization,” says Dr. Jon Driver, Vice President, Academic and Provost, Simon Fraser University. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with our colleagues at the University of Toronto in this important area,” Dr. Driver adds.

Explorance will be responsible for raising awareness regarding the evalUT framework and for supporting a system that collects high quality learning experience data, enabling higher education institutions to make informed decisions. Naturally, the University of Toronto will continue to collaborate with the entire evalUT community and to enhance the framework for the benefit of all.

To find out more about a framework for course evaluations that helps your institution continuously improve decision-making through feedback-based learning experience data, visit Explorance website.

About the Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation, University of Toronto

The Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation (CTSI) is a hub for teaching and learning at the University of Toronto. CTSI offers supports for members of the University community on an individual, divisional and institutional level. As well, CTSI staff are actively engaged with a broad array of external professional organizations, networks and committees in support of teaching and learning in higher education. Visit the CTSI page to learn more about CTSI expertise and how it supports instructors and staff with teaching and learning related issues.

Contact:

Gil Gruber
Explorance, Inc.
(514) 238-7766
ggruber@explorance.com