ClassEvals are open for students to critique their courses and instructors.
Students can rate the course based on their instructor, coursework and assignments, and can leave constructive comments to help better improve the course for the following semester’s students.
Kenneth Ball, a mathematics graduate teaching assistant, said he believes that offering extra credit as an incentive raises the percentage of feedback from students.
“I assign a small amount of extra credit based on this percentage as an incentive, and I typically have close to a 100% response rate,” Ball said.
However, not all professors feel an incentive is necessary. Caroline Pruden, a history assistant professor, said she does not award extra points to students who complete evaluations.
“The history department discourages us from giving any sort of extra credit for completing the evaluations, so while that would probably increase the return rate, I do not offer any sort of incentive,” Pruden said. “Ideally, the ‘incentive’ is that the students will feel good about the prospect of offering feedback that will make for a more productive learning environment for future students in my classes.”
Students like Camilo Lozano, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, do not need the incentive point to complete the course evaluations. He said he makes sure he completes his evaluations at the end of each semester.
“They help future students know how good of a teacher they may be choosing.” said Lozano.
Lozano also said he believes the evaluations are beneficial for teachers, as well as students.
“It helps them understand what most students feel could help the class run smoother and easier,” Lozano said.
Ball said he always makes sure to read the comments left by students in the evaluations.
“I usually get a lot of constructive feedback, and often it’s about things that I hadn’t thought of myself. Sometimes students say some funny things in the comments, so at least my evaluations are usually a good read” said Ball.
Some students, however, are skeptical if their comments are looked over at all, which can sometimes prevent them from doing the evaluations.
“I know some teachers really do read them to try and improve their teaching style and class, but some teachers don’t care whatsoever so it’s a waste of time” said Emily Ostrander, a junior in chemical engineering. “I think some teachers, such as my Biotech professor, actually care about it and read them for suggestions, but other teachers I seriously doubt read them.”
Some students, such as Ostrander, say they feel that filling the evaluations out online is too much effort.
“I think a style such as ‘rate your professor’ would be easier.” said Ostrander. “Rather than having so many bullets and text, there should be a scale on easiness, friendliness, content, and then have an overall ‘comments’ section.”
The Office of University Planning and Analysis has recently submitted ideas for changes to the evaluations, according to Karen Helm, director of the Office of University Planning and Analysis.
“They went online in spring 2007. Before that, they were paper evaluations. We were not responsible for it then,” Helm said.
Helm said that as far as she is aware faculty generally like the online forms with open ended comment boxes, as it permits more accurate feedback that allows teachers to work on specific aspects of their teaching methods. Helm also said that overall response can range from 52 to 55 percent University-wide.
“It helps to hear back from the students what helps and doesn’t. For some students it may be difficult to give feedback during the semester and evaluations are a good anonymous way to let the teacher know how you feel” said Chris Ladner, a chemistry doctoral student and graduate teaching and research assistant, teaching his first semester of chemistry lab 102. “Since they are not mandatory, I think most students are honest. The ones that take the time to fill them out and leave comments actually have something to say.”