{"id":24195,"date":"2016-04-11t06:30:03","date_gmt":"2016-04-11t11:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?p=24195"},"modified":"2016-04-07t12:38:41","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07t17:38:41","slug":"making-course-evaluations-more-meaningful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/2016\/04\/making-course-evaluations-more-meaningful\/","title":{"rendered":"making course evaluations more meaningful"},"content":{"rendered":"

by derek bruff, cft director<\/em><\/p>\n

\"reflections\"<\/a><\/em>course evaluations for spring semester courses begin today. when i served on the provost’s committee on the evaluation of teaching a couple of years ago, i found that instructors commonly face two challenges when it comes to course evaluations: motivating students to complete them (and thus increasing response rates) and helping students provide useful, constructive feedback on course design and teaching practices.<\/p>\n

one way to respond to these challenges is to reserve time in class for students to complete course evaluations.<\/strong> that emerged from our discussions as the single best option for instructors interested in increasing their course evaluation response rates. it’s how we used to do things back in the days of pencil-and-paper evaluations, when response rates were often 90% or higher, depending on attendance.<\/p>\n

after vanderbilt moved to online evaluations, many instructors shifted practice, asking their students to complete evaluations outside of class time. however, the vanderbilt student government student survey that the committee reviewed made clear that asking students to complete course evaluations outside of class during the absolute busiest time of the semester is problematic. i’ve reserved class time for course evaluation complete for years now, and, as the committee talked with faculty, it was clear that others do this, as well, with great success.<\/p>\n

since the evaluations are online, this move does require that students have laptops they can bring to class. smart phones will do in a pinch, but our current evaluation system isn’t particularly mobile friendly. however, according to a recent survey by the dean of students, 99% of our undergraduates own laptops. that survey had a fairly high margin of error, but i’m inclined to believe that the vast majority of our students do indeed have laptops. this percentage hits 100% in schools like engineering and nursing that have laptop requirements.<\/p>\n

asking students to bring their laptops on a particular day near the end of the semester seems quite doable. and giving up 15 minutes of class time to increase response rates and to encourage more thoughtful responses by students is a trade-off many instructors are willing to make.<\/p>\n

speaking of thoughtful responses, a review of the literature on student course evaluations yields a number of recommendations for instructors for talking with their students about course evaluations. whether or not you allocate class time for evaluations, the 2022年世界杯中国小组赛积分 recommends the following strategies for discussing course evaluations with students<\/strong>:<\/p>\n