CERTI Professional Development What You Need to Know About Electronic Student Course Evaluations Steph Fitch, Chair, Ad Hoc Faculty Senate Committee for Teaching Evaluation April 16, 2010 Active Learning FLC

Electronic Evaluation Pilot Phase I: Purpose and Setup Phase I of a pilot program to test the feasibility of electronic teaching evaluations was completed in Fall faculty with 12 undergraduate class sections participated. Class size Included upper and lower level courses in a variety of disciplines. CERTI Professional Development

Electronic Evaluation Pilot, Phase I: Process Evaluations were created using Qualtrics, an online survey tool. Students received an including a link to the evaluation survey. The survey was opened to students on December 2, and remained open until the last class day in December 2009 (almost two weeks). Students completed the survey on their own time. Instructors received a Word document summarizing results and listing written student comments. CERTI Professional Development

Electronic Evaluation Pilot Phase I: Response Rates There was an expectation of significantly lower response rates if electronic evaluations were used. Response rates for sections in the pilot ranged from %. The average response rate for sections in the pilot was 69%. As per the CET, response rates in the recent past using paper forms is about 70-74%. Participating instructors reported that electronic response rates were comparable to their usual rates for the same courses. CERTI Professional Development

Electronic Evaluation Pilot Phase I: Participant Feedback Feedback was requested from participants. 6 of 9 instructors and 127 of 599 students responded between 2/8 and 2/11, with the following results. Student confidence in privacy: 89% same or higher (65% same, 24% higher) than with paper Student confidence in accuracy: 90% same or higher (57% same, 33% higher) than with paper Student willingness to switch to electronic: 93% willing (69% prefer electronic, 24% no preference) Instructor willingness to switch to electronic: 100% willing (83% prefer electronic, 17% no preference) CERTI Professional Development

Electronic Evaluation Pilot Phase I: Student Feedback Easier to do this on my own time No pressure to complete evaluation in a certain time period Saves paper Can be more thoughtful and thorough with comments Good that it does not take up class time CERTI Professional Development

Electronic Evaluation Pilot Phase I: Instructor Feedback More and better quality student comments Easier to read, no handwriting issues or privacy concerns Does not use class time Much easier administratively CERTI Professional Development

Electronic Evaluation Pilot Phase II Phase II implemented in Spring 2010 In-house evaluation developed by IT, similar to distance course evaluations CET will allow results to be used for award determination 62 participants, 169 sections (over 10% of sections) Surveys open on 4/26 and close on 5/7, results available to instructors after grades are submitted Feedback will be solicited from participating students and instructors CERTI Professional Development

Questions and Discussion CERTI Professional Development

Acknowledgements Of course this undertaking could not have been accomplished without the support of many contributors. Thanks to all who participated, offered feedback, and assisted in this process. Members of the Ad Hoc Committee for Teaching Evaluation: CERTI Professional Development Neil Book Margaret Cline Steve Grant Kelly Homan Kurt Kosbar Chuck Morris Adam Potthast Allan Pringle Bob Schwartz Paul Voss Henry Wiebe A special thanks to Lance Callaway, IT Programmer/Analyst – Expert.