The following information is intended to provide instructors with guidance in selecting the appropriate evaluation method (paper vs. online) and procedures for administering these evaluations. Instructors should consult with their department coordinator or division chair to ensure they are using the appropriate evaluation procedure, which is usually determined by the class setting (i.e. online or face-to-face).
Due to the lower response rates of online evaluations, Instruction Cabinet and the Tenure Review Committee (TRC) strongly encourage the use of paper evaluations for face-to face and hybrid classes. Tenure-track faculty may want to use paper evaluations for face-to-face classes because the instructor will need to collect responses from a representative number of students.
Instructors wishing to use online evaluations for face-to-face or hybrid classes should consult with their coordinator or division chair, or if applicable, their working committee. If you do use the online evaluation format for a face-to-face or hybrid course, you should provide time for students to complete evaluations in the computer lab. Once in the lab, show students the site, have them access it, and leave the room, providing 10-15 minutes for students to complete evaluations in the computer lab. Tenure-track faculty should have someone from their tenure working committee (TWC) administer the online evaluations in the computer lab.
Evaluations for online courses should be scheduled with the faculty administrative assistant – these evaluations obviously use the online format. Historically, online student evaluations of courses have yielded fewer responses from students. This lower response rate is problematic, especially when tenure committees and department coordinators pay attention to these data as evidence of teaching effectiveness.
Do not offer credit for evaluation responses. Although there are ethical ways to encourage students to submit their evaluations with the promise of participation points, the Instruction Cabinet and the Tenure Review Committee discourage this practice for the following reasons:
Certain practices can enhance the return rates for online evaluations where their use is appropriate or necessary:
Approved by Instructional Cabinet (2/25/2013)
Language updated to Canvas terminology (3/26/19)
Language updated by TRC co-chairs and EdTech (11/6/24)
A secure online evaluation tool is available for all online classes. Your division administrative assistant can set up the evaluation tool, and will report the results through your regular departmental process.
If you’re teaching online and would like to use the online faculty evaluation, please inform your division administrative assistant about your intention, so that they can set it up in the system.
We recommend posting this as an announcement, as an assignment in the folder for that week's class activities, and an email.
Evaluations for this class are now available online. Please submit your evaluation by ________(date). To evaluate this class:
"How I Read My Student Evaluations"
Cedar Riener
Center of Teaching Excellence
University of Virginia
(Link)
First paragraph: Student evaluations are a curious metric for assessing one’s teaching effectiveness. They can contain valuable insight into the successes and failures of a course and the strengths and weaknesses of the instructor. However, as with any information, its value depends upon appropriate interpretation. Because student learning (and by proxy teacher performance) can often seem hard to quantify, it is tempting to evaluate one’s own progress by simply tracking the cold hard numbers of students’ evaluations without carefully interpreting the context in which they take place. Doing so would ignore the subtle dimensions that inform students’ responses on evaluations. The students’ state of mind, their assessment of their own learning, and the emotional power of evaluations all contribute to make the process of interpretation a difficult one for any instructor. Despite these complications, student evaluations can be a powerful tool for improving teaching.
Cedar Riener, Associate Professor of Psychology at Randolph-Macon College
"Student Evaluations"
Center for Teaching and Learning
University of Washington
(Link)
First paragraph: Student ratings and comments provide one source of data for review and promotion committees: The student perspective at a particular moment in time, at the end of the course. While students don’t know at this point how they’ll use what they learned or how they’ll view the course after they’ve graduated, course evaluation data are still useful, because students are experts in evaluating their experience and perceptions as learners. It is important also to provide a means for students to have a voice and for faculty to remain accountable to their students.
"Putting Student Evaluations into Perspective"
Eileen Hoenigman Meyer
HigherEd Jobs
November 1, 2018
(Link)
First two paragraphs: Submitting to a professional performance evaluation is humbling. Our livelihoods are the cornerstone of our security and our sense of ourselves. Our feelings about the work we do run deep.
A historically favored tool, instructor evaluations submitted by students, can be enlightening and helpful to educators. These devices only offer one vantage point, though, and it's problematic if they are used as a singular measure of educators' performance.
Eileen Hoenigman Meyer is a freelance writer focusing on topics such as job searching, work, family life, writing, and raising children