Skip to Main Content

Evaluating Faculty

Information and resources related to: >Interpreting student evaluations >Observing classes face to face >Observing online classes

Improving Response Rates for Online Course Student Evaluations

Improving Response Rates for Online Student Evaluations

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).

Who Evaluates and When

HCEA contract 
 

  • Adjunct faculty - all classes taught in each quarter (HCEA contract, section 315.2)
  • Lecturers - all classes taught in each quarter (HCEA contract, section 314)
  • Tenure-track faculty - all classes taught as part of regular load each quarter (Section 407.4 of the MoA - HCEA Tenure Processes 400s FY24).
  • Tenured faculty (for post-tenure & column advancement) - all classes taught in at least one quarter per year (308.5) and at least three different quarters for column advancement (206.5)

Student Evaluations for Face-to-Face and Hybrid Courses

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.

Guidelines for administering face-to-face evaluations
  • In all cases, the instructor must leave the classroom while students are completing the evaluation.
  • Only the division approved evaluations should be utilized.
  • Someone other than the instructor should administer the evaluation.
  • If a volunteer is not available to administer the evaluation, the instructor may hand out the evaluations and ask a student to collect and deliver the evaluations to your faculty administrative assistant or another designated individual.

Student Evaluations for Online Courses

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.

Guidelines for administering online evaluations

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:

  • It can create the impression that instructors will see the evaluations prior to grading.
  • "Pay for participation" may impact the validity of the data.

Certain practices can enhance the return rates for online evaluations where their use is appropriate or necessary:

  1. Shorter time period of availability. It sounds counter-intuitive, but when students have weeks and weeks to finish the evaluations, they will put it off and eventually forget. During the last week of classes, before finals, announce the evaluations on a Monday and put a "deadline" on them for Thursday.
  2. Explain that you welcome their feedback by explaining what the information is being used for. Tell students that their participation is important because the information helps you be a better teacher and helps the department improve the class for future students.
  3. Include the evaluation in the list of assignments for the class. If your students are accustomed to working through a list of activities for each unit or week of the class, insert the evaluation as simply another activity for that week.
  4. Provide reminders using numbers of completed evaluations. The faculty administrative assistant can get the numbers of students who have completed the evaluations. Posting an announcement such as "The person who collects these anonymous student evaluations told me 15 of you have still not completed the evaluations" can be helpful.
  5. Train students to respond to evaluations throughout the quarter. Get students in the groove of conducting short, formative evaluations earlier in the quarter, maybe weeks 3 and 6. These can be simple surveys (What works? What doesn’t?). The method is more powerful if the instructor responds to the results. ("I see you all found it hard to tell which chapters you’re supposed to read. I’ve added that information in...").
  6. Offer one "due date" extension. This relates to the impact of the shorter timeline. If the deadline is Thursday, make an announcement on Friday that there is one more chance over the weekend to get evaluations in.
  7. Create an Announcement for that week. Include the evaluation in the same way you might inform them about an exam, or about grades that are posted, etc. Multiple exposures to the link are helpful.
  8. Post instructions for students to complete the evaluation (or add it to your weekly video, if you do those). The evaluation form is not terribly complex, but it may help students get through the process of logging in and filling out the form. 

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)

Course Evaluations for Online Classes

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.

Instructions for Faculty

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.

  • Give the admin assistant a start and stop date (open access for students and close access).
  • Once they confirm that the evaluation is set up, post the evaluation information in your Canvas classroom, and email students to inform them that the evaluation is available:
    • Add to the area of Canvas where you post assignments/course documents
    • Post an announcement, either linking to the assignments area or with the information below
    • Send an email to your students with the information below
  • Your division administrative assistant will collect the results of the evaluation and distribute them based on division/department procedures, TWC requirements, etc.
What To Post For Students

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:

  1. Click on the link to go to https://evaluations.highline.edu/
  2. Login with your myHighline username and password
  3. Select the evaluation for this class (insert class info here)
  4. Complete the evaluation. Don’t forget to hit submit!


 

How I Read My Student Evaluations

"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

"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

"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