Comments on: Students Don’t Care about Evaluations http://www.teachingprofessor.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/students-don%e2%80%99t-care-about-evaluations A teaching and learning conference. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:55:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Dispersemos http://www.teachingprofessor.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/students-don%e2%80%99t-care-about-evaluations/comment-page-1#comment-39 Dispersemos Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:18:00 +0000 http://www.teachingprofessor.com/teaching-and-learning/students-don%e2%80%99t-care-about-evaluations#comment-39 I appreciate your analysis based on the article's conclusions, and I think your interpretation of student motivation re. course evals. is spot on. <br/><br/>My institution has just gone through a review of the course eval. form and process, and the most pressing question has been whether to move to on-line administration of evals. We decided to test electronic evals. this year, but we had to come up with an appropriate incentive for students. The decision was made to make final grades available on line only after they have completed the eval. In the process of making this decision we discovered, I think, that there is no easy way to get the eval. data we need (especially via electronic forms), because students have no intrinsic motivation to supply it.<br/><br/>It seems like, as you say, the only reliable feedback comes before the end of the course and when students feel that it will make a difference. I appreciate your analysis based on the article’s conclusions, and I think your interpretation of student motivation re. course evals. is spot on.

My institution has just gone through a review of the course eval. form and process, and the most pressing question has been whether to move to on-line administration of evals. We decided to test electronic evals. this year, but we had to come up with an appropriate incentive for students. The decision was made to make final grades available on line only after they have completed the eval. In the process of making this decision we discovered, I think, that there is no easy way to get the eval. data we need (especially via electronic forms), because students have no intrinsic motivation to supply it.

It seems like, as you say, the only reliable feedback comes before the end of the course and when students feel that it will make a difference.

]]> By: Jennifer Imazeki http://www.teachingprofessor.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/students-don%e2%80%99t-care-about-evaluations/comment-page-1#comment-38 Jennifer Imazeki Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:42:00 +0000 http://www.teachingprofessor.com/teaching-and-learning/students-don%e2%80%99t-care-about-evaluations#comment-38 Students definitely take notice if you actually listen to them. I routinely ask students for feedback during the course and I have had students comment on their end-of-course evaluations that they were impressed that I seemed to try to address their concerns. <br/>I'm also curious what the impact is of doing online evaluations - presumably students could take these more seriously since they will have more time to complete them and no peer pressure to rush through. Students definitely take notice if you actually listen to them. I routinely ask students for feedback during the course and I have had students comment on their end-of-course evaluations that they were impressed that I seemed to try to address their concerns.
I’m also curious what the impact is of doing online evaluations - presumably students could take these more seriously since they will have more time to complete them and no peer pressure to rush through.

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