The IDEA Center

The feedback I receive from IDEA, coupled with other forms of ongoing formal and informal feedback, has quite simply made me a better leader.  It is wonderful to receive the IDEA data in such a timely and well-organized fashion.  This allows me to spend more time reflecting on the information....and striving to improve my performance.

The IDEA administrator feedback systems have provided Angelo State administrators with a better tool by which to improve their personnel interactions and office services.

The IDEA administrator evaluation systems deserve the serious attention of every academic administrator interested in receiving performance feedback. 

The Faculty Perceptions of Department Chairs survey includes items related to the chair’s administrative responsibilities, personal characteristics, and administrative methods. Faculty are asked to provide comments related to the chair’s strengths, areas for improvement, important challenges face the department.

Copyright Notice: The survey instruments listed below are copyrighted by The IDEA Center, Inc. No part of the survey instruments or content may be adapted, duplicated or reprinted without prior written consent from The IDEA Center. Any such use will be viewed as copyright infringement and a violation of academic integrity. All rights reserved.

The following is a sample of the Feedback for Department Chairs survey form in PDF format:

• Department Chair Faculty Survey Form

The Chair Information Form (CIF) is comprised of four sections: Responsibilities, Personal Characteristics, Administrative Methods, and Chair Information. Ratings to identify relevant responsibilities is required (Part I-A). The remaining self-assessment is strongly encouraged to maximize the chair’s professional reflective practice, but can be omitted to accommodate local policies.

Copyright Notice: The survey instruments listed below are copyrighted by The IDEA Center, Inc. No part of the survey instruments or content may be adapted, duplicated or reprinted without prior written consent from The IDEA Center. Any such use will be viewed as copyright infringement and a violation of academic integrity. All rights reserved.

The following is a sample Department Chair Information for in PDF format:

• Department Chair Information Form

The following is a request form for IDEA Feedback for Department Chair system and the IDEA Chair Coaching Service in Excel format: Please save to file, complete to form, and send it as an attachment to support@theideacenter.org.

• IDEA Feedback for Chair Request Form

The following is the fee schedule for IDEA Feedback for Department Chairs and Chair Coaching system:

• Fee Schedule for IDEA Feedback for Department Chairs and Coaching System

The IDEA Feedback for Department Chairs Report highlights strengths and possible areas for improvement regarding the chair’s responsibilities and it indicates which concrete administrative methods and personal characteristics are associated with high performance. The report addresses two important leadership questions:

• How effective am I perceived to be?
• What might I do to improve?

Once the IDEA Feedback for Department Chairs instrument has been completed, The IDEA Center provides several coaching options to extend and enhance self-reflection and leadership development, through consultation with respected and experienced higher education administrators. The IDEA Department Chair Coaching Service guides chairs through an individualized process of professional discovery and reflection, with flexibility in pricing and structure.

The following are key features of IDEA online feedback systems:

One of the critical considerations in the development of the IDEA Feedback Systems for Administrators was ensuring the confidentiality of individual responses. In this system, the data are submitted directly to the IDEA online database. The system does track who has responded to the survey so reminders can be sent to those who have not. However, when responses are downloaded for processing, no identifying information (e-mail address, name, etc.) is linked to the data. As a result, the responses of specific individuals cannot be identified in our data. Only select IDEA Center staff members have access to the online system – individuals from campuses utilizing the feedback instrument do not have access to the system or data.

The IDEA Feedback systems do allow for respondents to make open-ended comments. Responses to these questions are provided verbatim to the administrator. The survey instructions advise that individuals should avoid comments that could reveal their identities.