The Power of Individual Reporting for Faculty in Course Evaluations

As the subject matter of course evaluations, instructors have the most to gain from their student feedback data. However, while many course evaluation solutions are capable of performing reporting functions, most lack the dynamism that allows instructors to dig deep into their individual data. As educators continue to shift towards student-centered learning, it’s time to rethink the concept of reporting to bring greater alignment between teaching practices and improvement. Let’s review some of the key features of a robust course evaluation engine and how they can impact improvement efforts at the instructor level.

• Dynamic response rates monitoring:

  Low response rates in course evaluations is a factor that can lead to poor insights and inaccurate decision making. This can cause instructors to lose out on important opportunities to improve student satisfaction and success in the classroom. A dynamic response rates dashboard will offer instructors a live view of course evaluations across all subjects. With one click filtering, they can dig deep into live data to better understand respondent demographics and where those responses are coming from (by device, browser, and location). With this access, they have the opportunity to adjust their strategy as needed in order to increase participation and engagement.

• Historical and time trend analysis: 

  For student feedback to be effective, instructors need to provide proof that their efforts are in fact making a difference. This requires a solution that easily offers historical metrics that they can use to support and validate their improvement projects. Additionally, the ability to perform time-trend analysis will allow them to proactively monitor their improvement over time and change strategies to meet student requirements. Instructors can also use this key data to strengthen teaching portfolios as well as provide evidence during performance reviews, promotions or tenure applications.

• Qualitative data analysis:

  Qualitative data in the form of open-ended comments can present considerable challenges in reporting and are often left out of the analysis process. As a result, instructors miss out on hundreds of data points that can provide valuable insights about success or potential barriers to learning. To obtain a complete picture of student feedback, instructors need a powerful text analytics tool that understands how students communicate including idioms, local expressions, typos, and synonyms. This tool should also convert open-ended feedback into meaningful themes and trends, allowing instructors to discover more opportunities to optimize the teaching and learning environment.