5 Strategic Benefits of Using An Online Course Evaluation System

In our last post, we discussed the many operational benefits that can come from having your institution or organization transition towards an online course evaluation system. In addition to numerous features that help to improve the operational efficiency of your survey planning tools, there are a number of strategic benefits that come from using a web-based course evaluation system, rather than having students fill out paper based course evaluations. Consider the following:

1. Time can be devoted to projects providing more strategic benefit:

   Since you don’t have to spend time creating and giving out course evaluations manually, you can spend more time on strategic projects.

2. Quicker results lead to quicker actions:

   Since you get access to results much more quickly, your Institutional Research department can deliver information to decision makers in a shorter time frame. This in turn leads to the ability to implement changes much more quickly.

3. Allowing your university/college to set out an environmentally sound policy/initiative:

   This is important not only because it allows you to appear more green, but also saves money by reducing paper costs.

4. Developing a culture of continuous improvement:

   Since open-ended feedback is facilitated, there’s far less extrapolation involved. You get access to poignant remarks that you would not otherwise get, allowing you to consider different policy options. Applied repeatedly over time, this can lead to marked changes in how things are done.

5. Greater accessibility:

   In the case of specific online systems like Blue/Evaluations, course evaluation software can provide a means for those who are visually impaired to provide input that they wouldn’t generally be able to in class and on paper. Technological advances such as Braille readers and screen readers, among other things, have helped to take steps to ensure that those who have difficulty communicating in conventional ways, have ways to be heard.

Has your institution made the transition to an online course evaluation system? What benefits did you see? Did you notice any of the benefits that were discussed?