University of North Texas 
Frequently Asked Questions for Coordinators
- Coordinator Resources
- Coordinator User Guides
- Frequently Asked Questions for Coordinators
- Tools for Administration (Coordinators)
- Presentations
Below are Frequently Asked Questions about Student Perceptions of Teaching (SPOT)
specific for departmental coordinators: please click on each question to see its answer.
If you have any additional questions, please email spot@unt.edu.
Yes, departments may opt to administer additional departmental evaluations, but every department at the university must administer SPOT.
Session Dates and Survey Administration Dates for each semester and term are found on our calendars.
House Bill 2504 mandates that public universities administer end-of-course student
evaluation surveys. Although SPOT is administered at UNT to meet this state requirement,
the ultimate goal is to use the results to improve teaching effectiveness. Classes
excluded from evaluation include special problems courses not linked to larger enrollment
classes, thesis and dissertation courses, and classes with only 1-2 students enrolled.
If your department is not wishing to set up an evaluation for a course outside of
these, it needs to be documented.
Each department will set its own protocol about how forms are chosen. Some department
chairs will choose the same form for the entire department and some will give their
faculty a choice of 1 or 2 or all forms to choose from. A list of the 15 different
types of forms can be found on the SPOT website.
This decision will be made at the departmental level. You will not be able to create
the evaluations until you know which form is chosen. In order to allow faculty at
least a week to add their own questions, we advise setting a departmental deadline
of at least two weeks prior to the launch of the survey.
You will only need faculty feedback if the form and/or protocol set by the chair has
changed or if the course and/or instructor is new to your department. IASystem keeps
a record of forms that are used every semester. You can view forms used in previous
semesters under the 'View and Manage Evaluations' function and the tab titled 'other
type'. All past evaluation details such as enrollment, form, and course type are saved
here.
The coordinator user guide, as well as other resources can be found on the SPOT website.
In order to create evaluations or manage/add instructors you must log in to the system.
If you have any questions, email spot@unt.edu.
If you forgot to create evaluations before the survey administration went live; you
will need to contact SPOT (spot@unt.edu) to unlock the open dates for you. Reminder: you cannot open a survey the same day
you create the survey; because of the automated process. If you miss the deadline,
you will have to choose a future date as an open date. Please keep in mind the survey
administration dates are posted at least one semester in advance on the SPOT calendar.
If the instructor's name is incorrect in the system, you need to check to verify it
is correct in EIS. If it is incorrect in EIS, please notify the registrar's office
because that is where the data is pulled from, and the change needs to happen there
as well for state reporting. You can change the instructor and/or add an instructor
(i.e. TF or TA) through the manage instructors and students function. An evaluation CANNOT be edited once the surveys are live. A user guide can be found on the SPOT website.
Faculty will receive email notification as soon as an evaluation is created for their
course. Instructions for faculty as well as the faculty portal link can be found in
the SPOT faculty user guide and on the SPOT website under Faculty Resources. Examples
of what the email content will be can be found under Faculty Resources as well (SPOT
Notification Emails). The email will have the survey creator (departmental coordinator)'s
name on it .
Reports are available in the IASystem portal. Release dates for reports will be three
days after grades are posted for the semester.
IASystem has created a template form that each department can utilize. This form includes
the four summative global questions for institutional comparisons, but the opportunity
exists for departments to create their own specific evaluation form. If your department
is interested in this option, please contact spot@unt.edu at the beginning of the current semester you wish to utilize this function.