Procedures for Administration
- For all classes (in-person or online) set aside 15 minutes for students to complete the evaluation at the beginning of class. Discuss the importance of the course evaluation with students. Here is a sample prompt:
- For the first 15 minutes of class I will give you time to complete the evaluation for this course. Your honest and constructive feedback on this evaluation is important to me. The types of feedback that I find the most useful are on how specific course materials, activities and teaching approaches supported your learning this semester. Please know that I am the primary audience for your evaluations, but others on review committees and my department head or program chair may read them as well.
- For in-person classes, inform students that there will be time set aside in class to take the evaluation and to be sure to bring a laptop, mobile device or tablet with WIFI capability. If students do not have access to such devices they can also take the evaluation in the library or other computer labs prior to the time of in-class administration.
- Please be sure to leave the room during the administration of course evaluations. For classes that meet remotely there are a few options for doing this, two of which are noted below:
- Exit the video call completely and return after 15 minutes. Ensure that the call does not close for everyone. For example, in Zoom if you are the host, please do not select “End meeting for all” option, but rather “Leave meeting.” Please practice this procedure prior to administering evaluations.
- Assign students to a Zoom breakout room for the 15-minute administration and stay in the main room. Close the breakout room after 15 minutes so that students return to the main session.
- Please note that for those familiar with the “yellow sheet,” it will no longer be used, as the student introductory prompt in the course evaluation system will cover this information.
- Students will access their evaluations by logging in through the link on this website or through the emails sent to them from CoursEval (email sender name: Laf Course Evals). Please note that some students may have already completed the evaluation prior to the in-class administration. That is perfectly fine as the goal is to have as many students as possible complete the form so that the data are representative of student perceptions of the course and their learning. If students have completed the form please ask them to sit silently to allow others to complete the form. If using breakout rooms online, ask students to return to the main room as soon as they are complete or if they have already completed the form.
Recommended Practices
There are a variety of recommended practices to increase student response rates.
- Conduct a mid-course evaluation – Asking students to provide anonymous feedback on a mid-course evaluation and making changes as feasible can encourage higher response rates on end-of-semester course evaluations as students will see that their instructor values and is using the feedback.
- Emphasize the importance of obtaining student feedback – Discuss the importance of end-of-semester course evaluations to students during administration and how you use the information.
- Send reminders – Monitor student response rates on your dashboard after the in-class administration. If they are low (e.g. <75%), inform students of the response rate and send them a reminder to complete the form underscoring the importance of having responses from all of them.