student evalutation

[ecila_etc]

The college I work for does an online student evaluation thing. But hardly anyone bothers to log on and complete them

Comments

[sashajwolf]

Here are two examples of questionnaires I gave to my students last year:-

General evaluation of the course

STUDENT FEEDBACK ON W300

This feedback is designed to be anonymous. It will be used only to improve future tutorials on this presentation and future presentations, and to help you start thinking about your exam preparation. You do not need to write your names on the form.

1. What have you found most helpful in your learning overall on this course?
2. What have you found least helpful in your learning overall on this course so far?
3. What tutorial items or activities have you found most helpful so far?
4. What tutorial items or activities have you found least helpful so far?
5. What is the most useful thing you have learned on this course so far?
6. What have you found most difficult on this course so far?
7. What do you think you may be able to do to help yourself tackle this problem in future?
8. What additional advice or information would you like to help you prepare for the exam?

Evaluation of a specific session1.

[ecila_etc]

ooo thanks - that's really useful

[solri]

I did online evaluation last semester and got round the participation problem by taking everyone down to the computer lab (we were also doing an online test that day, so it was no extra hassle).

I used phpESP to set it up - you can see the questions and a digest of the results here.

[pansette]

4. Of the monsters on this course, which are your favourites? zombies 17.4% (4)
werewolves 8.7% (2)
vampires 73.9% (17)
TOTAL 100.0% 23

EVERY course evaluation should have this question on it!!!

[alby]

This is what I ask my students around this time (and your post was great because it reminded me I needed to do it

[ecila_etc]

... they're analysing each other's presentation skills (ums, etc) this week, don't think I dare ask them what they think of mine!

I like the approach of asking for specific, singular examples, I remember being a bit lost be student evalutation forms as an undergrad

[alby]

I do them the old way, meaning that I give the questions in class (captive audience) in the last 10 minutes of a class and leave the room. I just ask a student to collect them all and hand them it to me.

I put a disclaimer saying that I will not try to figure out who wrote what, that I am too busy to try to match names with handwritting and that I do this to be better in the classroom.

It does help if you see a trend. Each student has their own opinions, but when several agree on something, then this is an indication of a potential issue.

[dithie]

to get more students to fill out the online forms, my class last year was offered an extra question on the exam from which to choose in return for an 80% response on the evaluations. in the end, they were only a percent point off so we gave them the extra question, but our class had the highest response rate in our faculty. if you have any authority to decide that kind of thing, it might be something to look into.

[crankyasanoldma]

If you ask directly about your teaching, don't ask questions about things you can't change. Think about whether students will be likely to have ideas and opinions that will help you improve your teaching.

You could also ask them what the most important thing they learned in the class was, and what questions they had (about the subject or course( which have remained unanswered.

I think it's interesting to ask them whether they think the tests and assignments ended up being a fair assessment of their learning--and why (or why not). If not, what do they think would be better?