Using end-of-course evaluation results to improve a course isn't always easy. Generally, the results are delivered after the fact. The course is over. The students are gone. That rules out any chance of making adjustments during the course, and it rules out clarifying any confusing aspects of the feedback. Perhaps, then, it isn't all that surprising that a lot of faculty members, 77 percent according to McDonnell and Dodd, don't change any aspect of the course based on the feedback, and those who do make changes tend to change very specific things, like the pace of the lectures. Other research documents that rating results remain stable: they don't change all that much, which could also be indicative that not much is changing in the course.
