Successfully Addressing the Problem of Student

Participation in Course Assessments

Mary Anne Baker

Christopher Gibbons

Outline

Background: Use of College Course and Instructor Evaluations

Use of Course and Instructor Evaluations at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar

Evaluation Formats Used 2007-08 to 2011-12

Student Response Rates

Blended Approach Introduced 2012-13

Historical Context

Evaluation of Instructors began about 80 years ago (e.g., Blum M. L., J. of Educational Psychology, 1936, 27, 217-221)

1960’s focus shifted to providing feedback to instructors from consumers (students) about how well instructor met his/her goals in teaching the course (McKeachie, W. J. Student ratings of faculty, AAUP Bulletin, 1969, 55, 439-444) --some studies found no relationship between student grades and evaluations other studies did-- similar findings for gender of instructor and gender of student

Examples of Published Results Comparisons

Response rates for On-line evaluations with grade incentive equal to In-class rates

Response rates for On-line significantly lower without grade incentive

(Dommeyer, Baum, Hanna and Chapman, Assessment & Eval in HE, 2004, 5, 611-623)

Survey Format Used 2007-08 to 2008-09

WCMC-Q Phase One

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Response Rates by Year and Response Mode--Paper

% R

espo

ndin

g

FEATURED DEVELOPMENTS

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Response Rates by Year and Response Mode--Paper

% R

espo

ndin

g

Administration Process

Each student receives email morning of course final exam

Email reminder 3-5 days following exam from our office

Second reminder from our office one week later

If low response rate, instructor asked to send email to students

FEATURED DEVELOPMENTS

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Response Rates by Year and Response Mode--Blended

% R

espo

ndin

g

Blended Process Currently Being Used

Students have printed copy of evaluation on their desks when they begin taking final exam in course if computer not used in final exam

If computers available in test room, as student turns in test s/he is asked to return to computer and login to email and open message to complete evaluation online

Staff are present in room until last student completes evaluation

Blended Process Currently Being Used

Evaluations completed on paper forms are entered into online system by office staff

For all courses all response data are stored in online system

Data, data summaries and are stored in online format

Year-end reports derived from these data files

Blended Process – The Future

Can we maintain high response rates with this system?

Optimistic because having students respond before leave test room with observer present has a positive effect

While students vary in their interest in the evaluation process, many seem to become engaged in providing feedback once they begin

Faculty are encouraging student engagement

Thank You