Course Evaluations and Reflection
The reason we teach is to pass on our knowledge and love of our content to our students. Because student learning is the goal, we want to know whether the teaching we have done supports student learning. Whether you want to analyze your course evaluation data, use a variety of tools to evaluate your course design, or think of ways to evaluate your course delivery, we have tools to help.
Course Evaluations
Finding out what students thought about the course is an important avenue for instructors to get feedback on the design and delivery of the course. See below for more information on how to access your course evaluation scores and how to use them to inform your practice.
Course Evaluations (from Students)
When adding the course evaluation data to your faculty portfolio, you will want to have the data in one report. This makes the upload easier, and makes it easier for your supervisor to read the report. Here is a tutorial for Downloading Course Evaluations in one report
If you use the simple average of your multiple courses, the courses where you had the fewest students responding will have the greatest impact on your overall score. Therefore, it is best practice to use the weighted average for your scores.
To do that, use this simple Excel Sheet to enter in the scores from each course you taught. The form will then calculate your weighted average. The form has instructions for you on the second page of the workbook, and you can also watch a short tutorial to use the form.
Analyzing the Results
Use the data from the course evaluations to improve the work you do with that particular course.
Single Course Evaluation Analysis Form
Look for comments that have to do with the program, such as "This course should come before COR102 because I really needed this information." Share this information with your academic leader (Program Director, Department Chair, Assistant Dean), so student feedback can be included in program-level decisions.
Look for specific, positive comments. What were aspects of the class that students really enjoyed or engaged with? Make sure those aspects of the course remain in place.
Examine the responses item by item. Resist the urge to "argue" mentally with the results. Instead, investigate. If item 5 (Course requirements are clearly communicated) is low, take some time to review where you lay out the course requirements. Look at the syllabus and Blackboard in particular. Are your course objectives clear? Are the assignment requirements clear? Think back on the semester. Were there assignments that you had to spend time explaining in class or was there a particular assignment that students emailed you questions about? If so, go back and add details to those assignments to increase the transparency.
While single-course evaluations give us good information about how well that particular course is received, multi-course evaluations give us feedback on our strengths and opportunities for growth as instructors. Looking across all courses taught, look for patterns in the responses. Do students typically rate your courses high on faith integration? Then you are probably doing something right there. Spend some time reflecting on what you do, and then make a commitment to do that even more intentionally in the future. Do students typically rate your courses low in feedback? Take a look at how much feedback you give and how quickly you give it to students. If you find that you are not able to give feedback quickly, examine your schedule and your course assignments. Are there changes you can make that will increase the speed with which you provide feedback?
Multi-Course Evaluation Analysis Form
For each course (in the semester or in the year), find the three items that had the highest percentage of four's and five's. Record those three items for each class. Look to see which items show up in the top three the most consistently. Those are likely your top strengths. Spend time thinking about your strengths and how you can build on those. Strengths-based coaching says that in our areas of strength, we are probably only operating at 50% of our capacity. We can continue to grow those areas to really shine in our teaching.
Go back through the courses. This time, find the three items with the lowest percentage of four's and five's. Record those three items for each class. Look to see which items show up the most often. That is likely an area where you are having difficulty as an instructor. Spend some time thinking about why those might show up consistently. Then spend some time on the TLC website or contact the TLC for a consultation. We are here to help you find amazing resources and can often provide you with a few tips that you can implement rather easily.
Whether you are looking to build on your strengths or develop new skills, this reflection exercise will provide you with actionable data.