Faculty180
Faculty180 (F-180) is a newly adopted online platform for faculty annual reporting. The application provides a user-friendly interface for faculty and more effectively meets MRU’s reporting requirements, including accreditation and program reviews. Faculty180 is in use by more than 300 post-secondary institutions, including a growing number of Canadian universities.
The Faculty Reporting System is primarily a mechanism to record and recognize faculty activities and achievements and to produce the Faculty Annual Report for the purposes of annual review by the Chair and Dean. The Faculty Annual Report may also provide, where appropriate, information to support the tenure and promotion processes. The information is held securely for use only by the faculty member and is only available to the Chair and Dean when the faculty member sends the completed Faculty Annual Report electronically for review. The faculty member may use the report for other purposes such as internal or external funding applications. In addition, some information gathered in the Faculty Reporting System will be collated in an aggregate form and used for the purposes of mandatory reporting to government and external agencies. General information, work and activities shall be recorded in four main areas: Profile, Teaching, Scholarship and Service (from Appendix B of the 2018-2020 Collective Agreement).
What's changed?
Only the software platform is changing, from FAR 3.0 to F-180. All other details regarding the purpose, content, internal data source migration, access, data privacy and use of data remain consistent with the Faculty Collective Agreement and are maintained consistent will all privacy guidelines and legislation.
Purpose of implementing F-180
FAR 3.0 has met the end of its application lifecycle, leaving faculty frustrated and mainteance costs had become prohibitive. F-180 was chosen as the best solution for MRU because its user-friendly interface — designed for the faculty member first. It has a proven track record and provides a cost-effective solution for MRU's long-term needs.
In addition, F-180 offers:
- easier data entry, including the ability to import citations from Google Scholar and other bibliographic platforms
- ability to enter and validate data about scholarly activity that can be exported into usable formats by faculty members
- integration with the Common CV system used by national granting agencies
- effective, customizable functions to meet MRU’s reporting requirements, including accreditation and program reviews.
Content migration and system testing
The system has been tested, evaluated and adjusted to best meet the needs of MRU faculty and our institutional requirements for reporting. A Task Force on Faculty Annual Reporting established through an agreement between Administration and the MRFA provided oversight, guidance and a final recommendation to move to Faculty 180. Testers were selected from a variety of units across all faculties to capture the unique reporting needs of all users. We are committed to continuous improvement of the system and welcome user comments, ideas and suggestions.
Information collected in the previous Faculty Annual Reporting system has been migrated to this new system and is also archived in the old system. The process of data migration is challenging, but the team has achieved an accuracy rate of over 90 per cent.
Training and support for F-180
Training, including video tutorials, are available on the F-180 dashboard, under the "Announcements and Help" tab, by selecting the "Access the Interfolio Help Center" link.
Ongoing training, workshops and one-on-one support are available through the Academic Development Centre.
Individual questions can be directed to: annualreports@mtroyal.ca
FAQ
Answers to questions regarding F-180's implementation can be found below. For more detailed technical questions and answers related to the use of F-180, please see the "Announcements and Help" tab on the F-180 dashboard.
How do I access the new system?
F-180 can be accessed through MyMRU in the same location as FAR 3.0 (MyMRU - Faculty - Professional Development & Reporting)
Can I still access my data in the FAR 3.0 system?
FAR 3.0 will be maintained in ‘read only mode’ for a minimum of 5 years.
Are my data safe?
Data are hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) industry-leading cloud (Virtual Private Cloud) service providers in Canada, used by more than 6500 Canadian government agencies. MRU has signed a data agreement with the vendor to ensure the protection of all personal data. If we end the contract with the vendor, all data will be returned to MRU. Consistent with internal policy and privacy legislation, MRU has developed a comprehensive Privacy Impact Assessment Report on Faculty Annual Reporting.
Has my existing data been migrated from FAR 3.0 to F-180?
Data in FAR 3.0 back to 2013 have been copied to F-180 with an accuracy for all categories was over 90%. Data migration summary files are included in Far 3.0 so faculty can identify any potential migration errors or problems.
Will errors in data migration adversely affect my current annual report?
Faculty members are encouraged to check their information to ensure that is correct. Significant errors should be reported to annualreports@mtroyal.ca after checking the data migration summaries. Faculty members will not be penalized through the annual performance review process for any inaccuracies in data migration.
What will the data be used for?
F-180 will be used solely to meet the requirements of the faculty annual reporting process and to meet our obligations for institutional reporting as per existing agreements and guidelines as outlined inthe Collective Agreement. In particular, Article 12 and Appendix B: “The information is held securely for use only by the faculty member and is only available to the Chair and Dean when the faculty member sends the completed Faculty Annual Report electronically for review. The faculty member may use the report for other purposes such as internal or external funding applications. In addition, some information gathered in the Faculty Reporting System will be collated in an aggregate form and used for the purposes of mandatory reporting to government and external agencies.” Consistent with internal policy and privacy legislation, MRU has developed a comprehensive Privacy Impact Assessment Report on Faculty Annual Reporting and replacing FAR 3.0 improves safeguards to data. There will be no third party use of data outside of these guidelines.
How will student evaluation of instruction be reported?
The reporting of Student Perception of Teaching (SPoTs or equivalent) will be directly imported into F-180 and continue to report only the instruction score and interaction score. Faculty continue to select which SPoTs results will be reported and may include an RT 300 form. Student comments will not be included, unless the employee decides to include such comments.