5 Ways to Use Course Evaluations for Teaching Development

Course evaluations are fundamentally used to improve teaching & course content, measure student learning and for making personnel decisions (tenure and promotion). One of the most important reasons for assessments is to measure teaching effectiveness. Evaluations are a great springboard for instructors to plan for professional development and teaching innovation.

Research has shown that faculty believe that assessments are useful, but that they do not use the results for their own development (Beran, Violato & Kline (2007)). Simply gathering student feedback and reviewing the results does not amount to significant change. Instructors need to reflect on the data and decide what actions need to be taken for continuous improvement.

Below, we will review some tips that you can use to help reflect on the results for your development planning. These tips are in addition to those outlined in a previous post ‘A 6 step guide to using course evaluation feedback for continuous improvement‘.

1. Look for trends:

   In both the quantitative and qualitative results look for any major trends or patterns that stand out. This is useful as it will show consistency in the data rather than isolated results. Focusing on trends gives you a balanced view and a good starting point for addressing areas for improvement. What do the comments in these trends show about your strengths and weaknesses?

2. Divide results:

   A useful exercise is to divide results into two categories, actionable and non-actionable. Look particularly at the actionable items, which are in your power to change. These items will give you a clear path of how you can to improve your course and teaching. You can further divide these results into pressing issues and items that can wait to be acted upon.

3. Areas for improvement:

   When you first begin reviewing results, you should prepare yourself to commit to change some aspect of your teaching. It is recommended that you focus on 1-2 areas for improvement and specifically address those with developmental opportunities. The trends you notice in the data will give you a good picture of areas where you can improve your teaching effectiveness. Be sure to ask yourself if the actions you are going to take will improve your teaching and your students learning.

4. Ask a colleague:

   If you’re struggling with analyzing your results, or simply require another opinion, it’s good to consult a colleague or peer. They can perhaps give you another perspective on the data. This is particularly useful when addressing results that are at the extreme ends of the spectrum, positive or negative. A peer can help you weigh these results and analyze whether there were any external contributing factors or biases. Also, reviewing areas for improvement with a colleague can give your further ideas for professional development.

5. Support:

   It is important that you be aware of the different services and resources that are available to you. Are there teaching and learning services that can help you analyze your results? Is there an academic development office that can help you plan your development opportunities? Is there training, workshops, seminars, mentorships and other development resources available for you to utilize? If your institution doesn’t have an internal development program are there resources allocated for external development? It is important to know these considerations at the outset to plan your development effectively.