Online course evaluations snubbed by students

Though many academic departments at Portland State have been trying to implement a more environmentally friendly and efficient online course evaluation, they have been unsuccessful in garnering student feedback.

In the past, the university used paper evaluations that were passed out to students during the last week of class. Now, the university is testing online evaluation software in about 10 departments. According to Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Roy Koch, the response to these evaluations has been positive, with the exception of a few departments.  

The Department of Communication, for instance, has had very low student participation since the online system was implemented.

At PSU, the task of evaluating courses is serious business, but many students do not understand the full import of the forms they fill out at the end of every course; these forms spell potential joblessness for some professors.

“[Students] are not familiar with the impact of how the forms are used,” said Darlene Geiger, a communication senior instructor and undergraduate adviser. “The importance of this extra task is not clear to the part they play in the overall educational experience at PSU.”

Instructors use course evaluations to improve courses for future students, and they are frequently used as evidence of teaching acumen by tenure-seeking professors. In addition, course evaluations are used by department chairs to evaluate curricula, as well as the professors within the department, according to Leslie McBride, director of the Center for

Academic Excellence.

“It’s really important that the evaluations be reliable because of these important uses,” she said.

According to Geiger, the evaluation data is also one of the primary ways that departments determine whether or not to rehire or promote fixed-term faculty—professors with temporary teaching contracts.

Because of the significant part these evaluations play in maintaining academic excellence, it is imperative that the results be a representative sample of the students’ opinions of the class, according to Geiger. With online evaluations, however, studies have found that the only students who fill out the form on their own time either loved or hated the class or instructor.

“These extremes do not represent a random cross-section,” Geiger said.

The data from the evaluations is analyzed in terms of percentages of the class; to get an accurate sampling of the class, almost everyone in the class needs to fill out an evaluation.

Much research has been done to find ways to motivate faculty and students to participate in this online evaluation process. Dr. Thomas Benton, who contributes to The Chronicle of Higher Education, has said that the response to online evaluations has been something akin to the commentary found on websites like www.ratemyprofessor.com. Students are more apt to make offensive, unproductive comments in these anonymous forums.

Not only is this kind of feedback hurtful to some teachers, but it also does not provide enough information to teachers to make positive changes to their course or curriculum, according to Benton.

According to McBride, there are a variety of reasons that online course evaluations outstrip paper evaluations for efficiency.

First of all, they are easier to customize for the uses of different departments and course levels. Instructors can easily add questions that pertain to their class goals.

McBride added that evaluations save time because professors and staff no longer need to count forms, stuff envelopes, sharpen pencils, scan forms afterward and type up handwritten comments. In addition, online evaluations save more than 27,000 pieces of paper formerly required for each student at PSU to fill out the paper version each quarter.

Because of the need for accurate data and the low feedback rates from the online evaluation, the communication department decided to leave the choice between paper and online evaluations to individual classes. ?