8 Tips For Designing Effective Course Evaluations

Before you begin designing your course evaluation, it’s important to determine the kind of information you want to obtain. Are you looking for feedback on the course itself, the methods used to teach, the structure of the course and/or your teaching style? You need to ask the right questions in order to collect the information you need to improve the overall teaching and learning experience.

No matter what your aim is, here are some guidelines that can help you to create productive and efficient course evaluations.

8 tips for effective course evaluations:

1. Communicate complete anonymity.

   Clearly communicate to students that their responses will remain confidential. Once confidentiality is assured, students will feel more comfortable giving unrestrained feedback. The result is better quality data and higher evaluation response rates.

2. Use multiple approaches.

   For example, you might consider using both ratings and short answer questions to gather both general and more specific feedback (qualitative and quantitative data). This allows you to get some insightful comments, but also allow surveys to go a little faster.

3. Ask the right questions.

   If for instance you are seeking detailed course feedback, be specific and ask direct questions pertaining to the curriculum. If you want feedback on your personal teaching style, ask direct questions about how the course was instructed and what can be improved.

4. Clearly define ratings.

   If you are asking questions that have a scaled answer (1-5), clearly define the numerical rating for each category to avoid confusion and generating skewed results. For example, 1 – Strongly agree; 2 – Agree; 3 – Neutral; 4 – Disagree; 5 – Strongly disagree.

5. Write clear questions.

   Write clear, concise questions that directly relate to the data you are trying to obtain. The clearer the question is, the less likely that it will be open to interpretation and result in a variety of answers.

6. Ask for comments.

   This is often where the most useful qualitative feedback is gathered, in the comments section. Don’t just leave a wide open space with a heading ‘additional comments’, give some direction by asking students to make a list. For example, ‘list three things you liked about this course’. This is not only less ambiguous, but can also help you retrieve data which is insightful and actionable.

7. Keep evaluations as short as possible.

   It is important to keep the questionnaire short and convenient. The shorter the evaluation, the more likely that students will complete it – resulting in higher response rates.

8. Move evaluations online.

   Make the course evaluation convenient for students by making it accessible online, perhaps by having it be accessed through the student portal. This saves time and adds flexibility, as students can fill out the evaluation at their convenience. The result is better quality data as students have more time to reflect and write their responses.

Have you tried any of the above tips for creating effective course evaluations? Which worked best for you? Do you have any tips to share? Let us know; we love feedback!