What is a Course Evaluation?

Why Are Course Evaluations Important?

When institutions adapt their courses to the needs of their students, graduation rates inevitably improve, and churn is reduced, which not only enhances the learning experience but also contributes to the institution's reputation. Positive changes, driven by course evaluations, are noticed and appreciated, and this word of mouth can significantly boost the institution's standing in the education world.

Course evaluations are an essential tool for any higher education institution administrator. These surveys provide crucial information directly from students, offering evidence-based insights that can inspire and guide your institution's growth in many ways.

How Often Should I Hold Course Evaluations?

Well-designed course evaluations significantly improve the student experience by providing classes that cater to their interests and better prepare them for the workforce. Listening to your students and modifying the overall learning experience based on their comments also increases public trust in your brand, which boosts enrollment.

The typical schedule is to run a course evaluation in the last class of the semester to gather insights about students' learning experiences. This approach is acceptable in most situations but adding another survey mid-semester allows for interesting comparison points and opportunities to rectify issues faster.

Course evaluations may be the only reliable opportunity for students to voice their opinions about their learning experience. Regular feedback-gathering operations are a fantastic way to promote student engagement and nurture their connection to the higher education institution.

However, if course evaluations are too frequent, students can rapidly feel overwhelmed, and survey fatigue inevitably sets in. The success of course evaluations hinges on the careful balance of frequency and punctuality.

No matter the frequency, course evaluations should have a clear and consistent schedule made public to the students at the beginning of each semester. This measure builds trust and promotes the notion of transparent communication as a core component of a culture of feedback. Since they expect feedback gathering, students are more prone to responding with developed answers to questions.

How Can I Leverage AI For Course Evaluations?

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic in education and must be used cautiously. When used correctly, this technology can significantly improve your data analysis capacities and streamline the feedback collection process.

Many higher education institutions are hesitant to start student feedback campaigns because they fear they lack the resources to analyze them properly. AI allows small teams to produce results that would take weeks of analysis in just a few hours. The most common use of AI in student feedback analysis is sentiment analysis. Using a tool like Explorance MLY, higher education institutions can quickly overview the trending sentiments present in the data by analyzing the ratios of positive and negative words used in answers.

AI can also be a tool to reinforce confidentiality and reduce students' fears about their answers being read by staff. Since software analyzes responses, student identities remain safe, and biases are more easily detected through word analysis.

What Does a Course Evaluation Look Like?

Course evaluation deployment methodologies can be split into two categories: physical or digital information collection.

Physical information collection

Physical information collection, which involves collecting student feedback on paper, is better than not doing it at all. However, this method comes with its own challenges. Manual surveys are much more time-consuming and labor-intensive to execute, not to mention limited to a classroom-only delivery method.

This type of survey is far less convenient for students to fill out and might introduce pressure to answer a certain way based on limited time and classroom setting that potentially intimidates them.

The follow-up analysis is also much more difficult with physical course evaluations. No artificial intelligence or machine learning intervention at any point in the process means data is prone to error. Without solid data, the resulting insights are never genuinely actionable.

What Are Examples Of Course Evaluation Questions?

Course evaluation questions must be varied, allowing students to express their positives and concerns differently. Always aim for a mix of qualitative and quantitative answers while framing questions to make students feel safe to answer truthfully.

A popular question type uses a Likert scale in answers to measure a range of attitudes and behaviors. This type of question strikes a nice middle ground between the ease of data analysis of a quantitative answer and providing the student some room to express their context.

To what extent did the course enhance your knowledge and skills in the subject area?

a) Not at all - The course did not improve my knowledge or skills in the subject area.
b) Slightly - The course provided minimal improvement to my knowledge and skills.
c) Moderately - The course somewhat enhanced my knowledge and skills in the subject area.
d) Significantly - The course greatly improved my knowledge and skills in the subject area.
e) Extremely - The course thoroughly enhanced my knowledge and skills, exceeding my expectations.

What Are Some Course Evaluation Sample Answers?

Below are some example answers to the questions proposed earlier:

Q: How well did the course prepare you for subsequent courses or professional applications?A: This course wasn’t what I expected it to be, but overall, I feel like I learned a few things I will use in the future.

Q: Would you recommend this course to other students?A: No, I would not because it isn’t well described. If it matched my friend's requirements, I would explain my experience and recommend it.

Q: What aspects of the course did you find most beneficial?A: The teacher is an expert in his field, making me more interested in the class.

Q: What suggestions do you have for improving this course?A: I thought the class was well run, and the teacher was very knowledgeable, but I felt like it could’ve used more visual aids and more practical work.

How Do You Evaluate a Course?

Evaluating a course should be based on something other than the results of one survey. A small amount of data will skew the results and lead to inaccurate assumptions that penalize teachers without fully hearing student concerns.

An excellent first step is to evaluate sentiment by analyzing the words used in each open-ended question using a tool like Explorance’s MLY. AI tools like MLY allow you to generate an overall sentiment towards a class. You can further break down this analysis by looking at the results separated into different classes for each department.

Another good breakdown is to look at the evolution of the results over a few years. This historical view will let you know if a course has improved or if specific issues are worsening over time despite the changes you make.

What Are Positive Comments for Teacher Evaluations?

Analyzing qualitative comments is a complex undertaking, fraught with issues if adequate baselines are not implemented. One of the most common issues is interpreting positive comments that students' language might hide.

Whether you use AI or do the analysis by hand, research any slang terms or popular expressions on your campus to ensure you can identify any positive or negative comments that this type of language could veil.

Similarly, look for polite expressions of frustration or constructive criticism. A statement like “The class could’ve used more visual examples” would go under the radar for most analyses but indicates a level of frustration with the way the class was delivered.

In the reverse situation, a comment like "The pacing allowed for personal research and reflection." might sound negative initially but should be recorded as praising the course structure.

Understanding the nuances of student language is crucial to properly analyzing feedback collected by a higher education institution. Try regularly updating your student slang lexicon and even work with your student association representatives to get the most appropriate interpretation of each term.

How Can I Deal with Biases In Course Evaluation Data?

Whenever you deal with human data, the results have the potential to be influenced by a variety of biases that are outside of your control. You can, however, anticipate these biases and try to attenuate their effects so your data isn’t impacted.

Here are the most common steps to take to counterbalance biases in student data:

Add different data sources, such as social media comments and external teacher rating websites, to identify any differing trends from the data you collected from students.
Depending on the makeup of your student body, you might have to weigh specific answers differently based on demographic and cultural factors that could affect how certain groups view and rate their teachers.
Try to structure your questions to leave as little room for bias as possible. Provide plenty of context before the question and use a clear, unambiguous writing style to prevent misunderstandings.

Biases are often present without the person’s knowledge and must be combatted with external methods. The goal isn’t to make students realize they have a bias but to control its impact on the collected data.

What Do You Say When Evaluating a Course?

Presenting course evaluation results can be a delicate process and is seen negatively by some instructors. Some teaching staff see student feedback as questioning their ability, lacking agency regarding the data.

Administrators must be aware of this situation and present data positively and progressively, analyzing the data in various ways to counter any possible biases. The main goal of this exercise is to turn the collected data into actionable insights that are valuable for everyone.

Utilizing dedicated software is indispensable when extracting meaningful insights from your evaluation results. Leveraging technology like Explorance Blue empowers you to efficiently streamline data processing, ensuring accuracy and facilitating the creation of informative visual representations.

These visualizations help refine the data and serve as a valuable means of presenting precise context to faculty and students, fostering a more comprehensive understanding of the evaluation outcomes.

Here is a helpful breakdown of different reports to produce for each role within your organization:

Instructors

Customized reports enable instructors to receive feedback in a relevant and actionable format for their teaching methods and course content. They can gain insights into their strengths and areas for improvement, facilitating professional development. Customization allows for specific recommendations and strategies to enhance their teaching effectiveness.

Program Directors

For program directors, customized reports provide a comprehensive overview of how courses align with program objectives. They can assess the overall quality of their programs and identify areas that require attention, enabling data-driven curriculum enhancements and program improvements.

Leaders

Customized reports enable academic leaders to aggregate data across courses and departments, facilitating higher-level decision-making. They can identify trends, allocate resources more effectively, and implement institutional changes that address broader educational goals, such as enhancing inclusivity or curriculum.

Accreditation Bodies

Tailored reports can be designed to meet the specific reporting requirements of accreditation bodies, ensuring that institutions have the data and documentation needed to maintain accreditation status. This streamlines the accreditation process and reduces administrative burden.

External Stakeholders

Customized reports can also cater to external stakeholders, such as funding agencies or regulatory bodies, providing them with data that aligns with their criteria and expectations. This process helps institutions demonstrate accountability and compliance.

What Is a Good Course Evaluation Score?

Course evaluation scores are useful benchmarks of success, but they can also provide false positives if they aren’t well designed. Whether you opt for a score out of 10 or 100 depends on the number of questions your course evaluations have and the level of precision you want.

However, before you start this process, reassure your staff of the following points:

Student ratings have no relation to faculty evaluations. Instructors are often scared that they might lose their jobs due to a concerted effort by students, who give them a bad rating. Reassure them that course evaluations are not run in a punitive way and are only used to provide a better learning experience for students.
Single course evaluations are part of an evaluation data mosaic. Information on every course is essential to a student feedback program but should never be looked at in a vacuum. Your staff should feel safe that no single course evaluation could overly penalize them.
An above-average response rate leads to better data. While this might seem obvious, it is important to stress it to your staff. Instructors are often the best placed to promote the importance of course evaluation to students, directly influencing the response rate.

Course evaluation scores are essential to gather, but it is difficult to say what constitutes a good or bad score since they are bound to change dramatically depending on the situation. Some institutions disregard these scores altogether and only use the course evaluation data to connect it with other data points.

In contrast, others will have a threshold of “bad” scores until disciplinary action is taken. No one measure is more advisable, but you should establish clear and public guidelines so your staff knows what to expect at all times.

Course evaluation scores must be rooted in your institution’s context. A good score must be aligned with your goals and promote behaviors you want to see in teachers. Some classes might even need their own parameters if they are seen as demanding or teach a subject that might be new for most students.

These situations can easily lead to an outpouring of negative comments that aren’t necessarily based on the instructor’s teaching ability.

How Can You Increase a Course Evaluation Response Rate?

For a successful student feedback campaign, ensure you achieve a high response rate in course evaluations. Higher response rates provide better data and ensure every student in your organization gets a voice in their learning experience.

An important thing to remember is that student feedback is often the first-time students have genuinely been asked for their opinions in their lives. For that reason, they might have issues expressing their thoughts, and they should be provided with examples and training on providing practical, usable feedback.

A fear related to the first point is that some students might not trust the anonymity of this feedback and change their feedback to avoid retaliation by an instructor. It’s essential to put in place measures that make students feel safe. Explorance Blue has several methods to enable this, like unique QR code access for each student.

However, what makes response rates go up more than anything else is the simplest: Past actions from administration based on student feedback. If students see the impact of their feedback, they will be much more inclined to share more to improve their situation.

It’s a good idea to announce and broadcast the results of student feedback with posters and student portal notifications. You could also remind students of what has been accomplished on the first screen of the survey to show them right before they give feedback.

When Can We Do a Course Evaluation?

Analyzing demographic differences by comparing responses from various student groups, such as gender, age, or program of study, can unveil disparities in perceptions or needs. Moreover, tracking class performance year over year through quantitative data enables institutions to assess the effectiveness of changes made based on previous evaluations.

This systematic analysis of quantitative data offers a quantitative understanding of the educational experience, facilitating data-driven decision-making and evidence-based improvements in academic programs and teaching methods.

Course evaluations serve as a valuable mechanism for uncovering gaps and unmet needs within the course and its overall design. Through student feedback, institutions can identify areas that require attention or improvement. These missing aspects can encompass a wide range of factors, including the adequacy of course materials, the effectiveness of teaching methods, or the availability of necessary resources.

Addressing these identified gaps is pivotal for ensuring the quality and relevance of education. Institutions can use the feedback to refine course or curriculum content, adjust teaching strategies, or introduce additional resources to bridge the identified gaps.

For example, suppose students consistently need more practical applications of course concepts. In that case, instructors can integrate real-world examples and exercises into the curriculum to enhance the learning experience.

Additionally, course evaluations can illuminate the need for entirely new or follow-up learning opportunities. When the feedback indicates that specific topics or skills are insufficiently covered, institutions can consider developing complementary courses that delve deeper into these areas or offer advanced levels of study.

This proactive approach ensures that students receive a well-rounded education that aligns with their evolving needs and the demands of the academic or professional landscape.

What’s the First Step for Better Course Evaluations?

In essence, course evaluations diagnose existing shortcomings and catalyze continuous improvement and innovation in education. By responding to the feedback and addressing missing aspects and resources, institutions can enhance the quality and relevance of their educational programs, ultimately providing students with a more comprehensive and fulfilling learning experience.

Student feedback is a valuable tool for any higher education institution but must be rooted in a desire for progression. Carefully designing the questions, taking extra measures to ensure confidentiality, and selecting a technology solution to provide the best data analysis possible demonstrates how you care about your students.

Higher education is often seen as a field that is slightly stuck in its ways. Course evaluations are ultimately a brand-building effort to express your institution’s commitment to evolution and reinvention.