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Student Feedback on Course Experiences

Guidance for Administrators, and Review Committees

Introduction

In 2019, the University Senate approved a bill with a series of recommendations around improving the University’s course evaluation instrument, formerly called CourseEvalUM. Reimagined as Student Feedback on Course Experiences, this new instrument is the culmination of over four years of work from the University Senate, the Academic Procedures & Standards (APAS) Committee and a workgroup charged by that committee, and the Course Evaluation Advisory Committee. Following several rounds of feedback from students and faculty. It contains new questions designed to better gather feedback in areas that can be appropriately judged by students, and will provide more actionable information that can be used to improve pedagogy. 

In addition to new questions, the University Senate recommended that there be guidance around the implementation and use of survey results. The Course Evaluation Advisory Group, in conjunction with Faculty Affairs, IRPA, and the TLTC, worked to develop this guidance. The information below is designed to assist the university community as they review and interpret the results from the Student Feedback on Course Experiences survey.

Goals

  • Gather student perspective on the teaching and the course so that instructors can improve upon their teaching based on that feedback, and the university can encourage best practices in teaching at UMD.
  • Help administrators use this data appropriately. 

Objectives

  • Increase participation rates: Encourage your instructors to set aside class time for students to complete the feedback survey.
  • Set expectations for your instructors on how to collect student ratings during class time - unit-level approach.
  • Discuss with your instructors in advance how the results will be used.
  • Communicate with students to encourage them to complete the evaluations in order to help identify Best Teaching Practices, and/or challenges.
  • Be cautious with interpretation: Understand the possibility of bias in the ratings and in interpretation.
    • Bias from offering incentives to take student feedback surveys (e.g., bonus points, snacks)
    • Gender bias, race/ethnicity bias, etc.
  • Understand that these are students’ perspectives, which may include things other than just the quality of instruction
  • Ask instructors to provide context for the ratings
  • Connect student feedback surveys with learning outcomes assessment
  • Listen to and support instructors who have received racist, sexist, otherwise discriminatory, or cruel comments from students
  • Use the data as a starting point for conversations about teaching and learning, considering baseline and aspirational items
  • Be supportive of growth over time: Look at instructor and course change over time and provide resources for success.

Note: 

It would be inappropriate for administrators or review committees to

Resources

Guidance for Instructors

Goals

  • Gather student perspective on the teaching and the course so that instructors can improve upon their teaching based on that feedback.
  • Help instructors use this data appropriately.

Objectives

  • Increase student participation
    • Set aside class time for students to complete feedback surveys (see the student targeted article: Why Should I Fill Out my Surveys? [VPN required])
    • Leave the room while students are completing their feedback surveys
    • Discuss with your students in advance who sees data from these feedback surveys, how those data will be used (and how data have been used in the past), and why student feedback is important to you (for additional suggestions, see: How Can I Improve my Response Rates? [VPN required])
  • Use the results to document your teaching
    • Include the summaries of the student feedback as one element in your teaching dossier 
    • Provide context for the ratings with a few sentences describing the course and your perceptions of how things went 
  • Be cautious with interpretation
    • Understand the possibility of bias in the ratings and in interpretation
    • Look as baseline and aspirational items separately
    • Connect student feedback surveys with learning outcomes assessment
    • Interpret the mean in conjunction with the shape and frequency of responses along the scale
    • Use comments to help understand variation in responses and to add context around low scores
  • Reach out for help
    • Contact the TLTC, Faculty Affairs, or trusted peers for help understanding the feedback
    • If you receive any threatening comments from students, please contact CourseExperiences@umd.edu
    • Contact BISS, TLTC, and/or your departmental leadership for support, as you are comfortable

Note:

It would be inappropriate to:

  • offer incentives for students to complete their feedback surveys (arbitrary and capricious grading policy)
  • assume consensus based on one or two comments
  • summarize the full report into a single score
     

Resources