Every semester, students receive countless e-mails from both administrators and professors asking them to fill out course evaluations. Easy as it may be to simply ignore this electronic deluge, many students do take the time to comment on their professors of the past semester.
Sophomore Adam Rothman has filled out evaluations in the past because of the incentives given in his classes.
“[I filled them out] mainly for general chemistry and chemistry lab because they gave us extra points,” said Rothman. “Once I was at the Web site I figured I might as well fill out the rest.”
The administration has been working hard to encourage more students to fill out the online evaluations.
“We support any approach that the faculty members feels comfortable and find effective. Course evaluations are important,” said Dean Henry Biggs, head of the evaluation program for Arts & Sciences. “We encourage [professors] to send out e-mails and talk about it in class.”
Although providing incentives is not the only way to get students to fill out evaluations, the administration feels it could be a positive way to get student feedback.
Once students fill out the evaluations, they can help both the administration and the overall student body.
“The Evals are looked over by administrators when faculty go up for tenure or when they go up for promotion,” said Biggs. “They are looked at by faculty members to see how to improve a course.”
Biggs also explained that there is a wide range of how many professors use the evaluations, with some professors taking them very seriously and others to a lesser extent.
After evaluations are filled out, other students who are possibly interested in taking those courses can view them.
“University College, ArtSci and Engineering students can see all of the averages, [but] not the comments,” said Biggs. “They can see them in great, great detail. You can go and look, down to the last person, and see what the range of responses are and what their averages are as they relate to the whole system.”
Recently, the University’s system has been commended as one of the top evaluation systems in the nation by the online journal Inside Higher Ed. “We were recently honored as ‘the Rolls Royce of course evaluations,'” said Biggs.
He explained that this reflected the high degree of student participation every semester.
“We average right around 70 percent and we’re ahead of our pace. It’s all very exciting – it says a lot about the system and a lot about our students, too,” said Biggs.
The University continually tries new tactics to improve the system. Recently, students have received a special thank you for filling out the evaluations in the form of a rap or rhyme performed by various members of the administration, including Chancellor Wrighton and Deans McLeod, Carnaghi and Biggs. The University is also working on getting former Assembly Series speakers such as Cheech Marin and Bill Nye to do their own thank you’s.
The person who came up with idea of the video clips was Pushkar Sharma, an alumnus who graduated in 2006. Biggs explained that Sharma worked on the Evals as a summer project and even wrote the raps for the administrators.
“If we can come up with engaging ways to encourage more participation, I think it’s great,” said Chancellor Mark Wrighton.
Students have responded in a variety of ways, but for the most part the response appears to be positive.
“They appreciate the effort of the Chancellor to take the time and to have the sense of humor that he did to do that,” said Biggs.
Although Rothman has not filled out his course evaluations this year, he said, “After I heard about them, I was more excited to do them just to see what it was.”