The Student Assessment of Instruction System (SAIS) was used for student evaluation of instruction at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from the 2000-2001 academic year through the 2015-2016 academic year. The eleven questionnaires were based on the University of Washington’s Instructional Assessment System and were used with UW’s permission.
Please contact our office at 865-974-4373 or at TNVoice@utk.edu for information on archived SAIS reports.
Form A was designed for small lecture/discussion courses. Items emphasized the clarity and quality of information transmitted, as well as the nature of the interaction between instructor and student
Form B was designed for large lecture classes, with little or no in-class interaction between instructor and student. Items emphasized the quality of course organization and information transmitted
Form C was designed for seminar discussion classes which include a minimal amount of formal lecturing by the instructor. Items emphasized quality of discussion as well as course organization and interest level
Form D was designed for those classes whose purpose is the teaching of problem-solving or heuristic methods. Clear explanations, dealing with student difficulties, and quality of problems were emphasized
Form E was designed for those classes which are skill oriented and in which students received “hands on” experiences related to future career needs. Such classes included clinical nursing, art studio, foreign languages, and social work field experience
Form F was designed for discussion sections usually taught by graduate teaching assistants, in conjunction with a lecture class taught by a faculty member. Items focused on the ability of the discussion section instructor to interact with students and provide clear and useful explanations
Form G was designed for use in large lecture classes (such as those in math) which rely heavily on homework problems and a textbook. Emphasis was on the instructor’s ability to communicate with students and the value of assigned problems and readings
Form H was designed for lab sections generally taught in conjunction with classes in the sciences or engineering. Items emphasized the instructor’s ability to introduce meaningful questions, assist students, and deal with unexpected problems
Form I was designed to be used in distance learning courses. Items related to the instructor’s responsiveness and the quality of support material
Form J was designed to evaluate instruction provided through clinical experience rather than traditional academic coursework. Such courses were often found in the health professions or the arts. Items focused on the instructor’s ability to provide information, stimulate learning, and demonstrate skills
Form X was designed to be used across all course types. It includee a reduced set of items relating to general educational processes and a unique set intended to assess educational outcomes.
Student Comment Sheets solicited responses to four open-ended questions. This optional form was used in addition to one of the scan forms described above. All comments were visible to the instructor only.