Based on faculty comments and suggestions from the University's Office of Institutional Analysis and Studies, we've developed the attached early draft of a new BIS Course Evaluation survey.
We would appreciate any thoughts you have on this draft:
BIS Course Evaluation Template.pdf (Original)
I'll post comments as I receive them. If you would like to enter comments on this page directly, just click "Edit" above and start typing. The password is "bis". GK
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Faculty Comments
From Ann Marie
I'd like very specific feedback on the readings and assignments. Sometimes students refer to them but not always. Also, a question on the "environment"-- one place for them to complain it was too hot, too cold, seat uncomfortable, etc and then that stuff does not spill over in to the actual content of the course.
From Leo
I've thought a lot about course/faculty evaluations by students over the years. At Evergreen, from the founding through the present, we just used white space. The students were encouraged to write narrative evaluations of faculty and programs/courses, saying anything they wanted to say. There was no quantification. I liked this system very much, but I also realize (or think I do) the practical necessity for quantification (i.e., checks, numbers, etc.) at UVa and more traditional places.
I've found the present form fine, but ever since I came here in 2000, I've always told my students on the last night to fill out the checks/numbers any way they wanted to (taking them as seriously as quantification can be taken in such matters), but that I REALLY wanted them to fill up the "Further Thoughts" blank at the bottom of the form, preferably going over onto the back to write more. I suggest (as we did at Evergreen) that they begin their writing (down there under "Further Thoughts") with the sentence "My central impression of [name] and his [or her] course is X." I tell them that this is a "generative sentence" -- which is has truly turned out to be over the years, leading on to other sentences and other impressions/reflections -- and that they should write as much as they like, saying absolutely anything they want to as long as what they say is the product of serious thought (which doesn't mean it can't also be funny). I stress that I'll never see the forms -- and thus will not have access to their handwriting, in case that might be an issue with any student. (And indeed I always leave them with a student to take back to the BIS office in their original manilla envelope, never touching them once I've handed them out.) I tell them that, while the BIS administrators and the University may be primarily interested in the checks/numbers, that I will be much more interested in the writing on the back, hardly ever even looking at the numbers. (I explain that the BIS secretaries transcribe all this writing (with no names attached, of course) and share it with the instructors in the normal course of sending the instructors the cumulative evaluation numbers for each class.)
I've learned more about my teaching performance (if one can call it that) from what's written on all the the white space in the years since 1970 (at Evergreen and here both) than I've learned from any other single source.
So naturally I recommend white space. But I also recommend that it be stressed on the form itself -- perhaps with a big arrow saying, "Turn over to write on reverse."
From Darryl
I liked the format and content of the model BIS course evaluation form that you sent.
My only suggestion is that, in addition to the comment space labeled "What I liked best about the course was" (which will be associated with the "Strongly Agree" and "Agree" markngs on the evaluation), you should also have two additional comment spaces labeled:
"What I liked least about the course was"
"Suggested ideas for improving the course are"
This will give the student an opportunity explain the details behind any "Disagree" and "Strongly
Disagree" markings that may appear on the evaluation.
Otherwise I think the electronic course evaulation is a good idea and was very well done.
From Luke
I find the evaluation forms woefully inadequate: I feel as if they were designed by someone with a background in management and absolutely no experience in the classroom-- furthermore they make no assessment of the particular professor's engagement with the nature and schedule of the BIS student. Frankly I found the form at the Virginia Theological Seminary much more thorough and much more aware of what the live engagement of the students and teacher entail. I agree with Leo that the free response areas of any evaluation are the most productive, but I am also weary of a completely blank page. At VTS the evaluation is two sides of one page and about 80% 'white space': but this white space is punctuated with questions which prompt the students to freelyrespond to certain issues.
I am attaching the 'blind' mid term evaluation which I gave out this semester: it only contains 'agree/disagree' questions because at mid term I
cannot get them typed and I need to keep the evaluations confidential, but whatever the limits of the format, the questions are designed for our
community.
I also would like to point out that Toolkit has an 'anonymous feedback' feature which allows students to give feedback at any point in the semester. I don't know if Blackboard has the same feature-- though I would suspect it
does. In any case this can be very useful. (Comment from GK: Blackboard does support anonymous posting to any discussion forum at the discretion of the instructor.)
From Glenn
I've used a variety of assessment tools. Here's a link to a fairly comprehensive online course evaluation that provides specific information about course elements. I've used this for both distance learning and blended courses. Despite its length, the response rate averages above 95%:
The following mid-semester evaluation is a "peer learning" survey that enforces the importance of collaborative learning and puts students on notice that they have a responsibility both as a learner and as a teacher. I've used this tool several times and, with appropriate preparation and follow-up, it can be very effective.
I have also incorporated this peer learning matrix into my standard end of semester course evaluatoin.
Attached are the results of IAS's research on BIS's course evaluation questions and national "best practice" questions. The report contains some possible questions to include from the existing instrument, some possible additional questions, and research about the usefulness of various approaches to course evaluation. There's material of interest to everyone in this document. It's well worth reading.
Islam Internal Assessment.doc
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