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1. Evaluation and Assessment
1.3. Evaluation
How Student Evaluations Can Help You Most
Asking students for feedback early in a course can be one of the most effective steps toward improving your teaching because it allows you to respond to the feedback while the course is still in progress.
The early evaluation process can help you to identify potential problems more quickly, solicit excellent student suggestions, and build students' confidence in you as a responsive teacher who cares about their learning.
The best time to ask students for their comments is in the first 3-6 weeks of a full semester course or in the first 2-3 weeks of a mini-semester course, when students have had a reasonable sample of how you teach and how their learning is evaluated.
Quick Tips: Get the maximum benefit from early evaluations. Ask if your department has a standard form for collecting feedback from students early in a course.
Faculty Development can also provide you with sample forms to use or adapt to fit your situation. An effective form can have just a few questions with numerical responses and/or 2-3 open ended questions.
Allow 10-15 minutes at the beginning of a class for students to complete the forms
- If you distribute the forms at the end of a class, many students may have to hurry and you may receive much less information from the open-ended questions.
Tell students you want candid and constructive responses
- Stress that the only purpose of the form is to help you improve. Suggest that students write to you rather than about you. If you will be sharing the feedback with a faculty member, you may want to tell students so that they can phrase their comments appropriately.
Let students know that you will talk with them about the main points of the feedback you receive
- This shows them that you are genuinely interested in responding to their comments. Telling students what you learned from their feedback is essential to ensure that students put a good effort into the evaluation process.
Tabulate students' comments to find recurring themes and suggestions
- Remember that the distribution of responses and related comments are more important than the averages when you are looking for areas for possible improvements. The areas of consensus will usually be your highest priorities in reporting back to students.
Keep your focus on potentially constructive changes
- Many of us tend to dwell on a few criticisms or impractical suggestions. You can avoid this difficulty more easily if you cluster students' comments into groups such as "strengths," "ideas for change," and "issues beyond my control." If there are items you aren't sure how to interpret, consider consulting Faculty Development or a faculty member to get an additional perspective.
Select 3-5 issues on which to report to the class
- Plan your response so that you balance positive feedback from students and areas where you hope to address their needs more effectively. If you plan to make changes based on the student feedback, explain the changes and the rationale behind them. If a few students requested a change you don't plan to make, help them to understand why it isn't possible.
Frame your discussion so that you maintain a positive tone
- It is important not to come across as defensive, angry, or overly apologetic because these reactions can undermine students' trust and respect for you. Sometimes just a few negative comments can make it difficult to stay positive so feel free to contact Faculty Development if you want talk about the feedback with someone before responding to the class.
Adapted from the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence at Carnegie Mellon University
