Thirdly, if the unit's study materials were mailed late or the materials were below par, the students' responses may not truly reflect the quality of the tutor's performance. The SEEQ instrument has a set front page, with nine factors and 31 questions which cannot be altered in any way. Staff involved in reviewing SEEQ for distance purposes encountered many areas leading to ambiguity when used in distance teaching. Poorly worded questions, inappropriate items, or heterogeneous items summarised as an average was accepted as yielding unreliable or uninformative data. Tutors are reminded that the results will remain strictly confidential and that only they will be given copies of the ratings and summary reports.
All questions use the same nine-point response scale.
If tutors decide to develop their own 'Tutor Supplied Items', these are printed on a separate sheet and copies made for each student. Tutors are advised to provide written instruction on the 'Tutor Supplied Items' form asking the students to respond to each item in the appropriately numbered answer space. If this is not possible, the survey should be administered as closely as possible to the final week to maximise the reliability of students' responses. The surveys are processed through TLG using SPSS and summary reports and a guide to interpreting the reports are forwarded to staff. Conclusion Distance education teachers now have a confidential facility to evaluate their teaching effectiveness and that of the study materials and study processes within a distance unit.