By Nicarlyle Hanchard / Jambar Contributor
Youngstown State University has a new course evaluation form. The link to the renamed Student Course Feedback form is available through student emails and Blackboard.
In February, the Academic Senate through YSU’s Institute for Teaching and Learning approved the new form.
Cary Wecht, professor of communication and director of faculty development in YSU’s ITL, said her committee was charged with reviewing and later updating the previous form.
“The items had been looked at, but they hadn’t been revised in any significant way,” Wecht said. “Maybe 20-30 years it’s been pretty much the same. We’ve added some questions for online learning, but by and large, it was the same document.”
Along with completing the ITL Reciprocal Responsibilities for Undergraduate Students and Instructors document and the common syllabus, Wecht said her committee completed the Principles of Good Practice in Teaching document.
The completion of the form aided in the revision of questions in the new feedback survey.
“We thought, in light of having recently defined what good teaching looks like. Why don’t we take these documents and try to explain what that would look like on the student feedback system,” Wect said.
Prior to the change, the committee conducted research to identify problematic areas on course feedback forms. Wecht said the findings suggest a susceptibility to bias based on an instructor’s race, gender, sex and nationality.
There is a notation at the beginning of the updated form informing students of “unconscious and unintentional biases,” encouraging them to focus on the content of the course and not professors’ personalities.
“The instruments are tricky, so we try to reduce the problematic questions by putting in things you can see with your eyes and hear with your ears,” Wecht said.
The forms are completely anonymous and responses will not be shared with faculty until all grades are submitted.
Wecht said during previous years, a student was assigned as proctor for the evaluation sessions. The committee is encouraging the integration of this system with the current layout.
“Not only do the questions differ now, but we’re also encouraging faculty to go back to a system we used to have,” Wecht said. “The instructor would leave the room, taking the last 10 minutes of class, and the student-proctor would read the instructions to everyone, and they’d complete it in class.”
She said this layout allows everyone to complete the form. The online forms saw an average of 50% of students completing the evaluation. Wecht said this average is unreliable when considering course revisions.
The new form features an open-ended question at the end for students to elaborate on a previous response or add new information.
Wecht said the forms are important to faculty looking to advance in their professions.
“We want to know what you think, and we want to do better,” Wecht said. “But they also have real consequences for people in their careers.”
Forms are available for every course, but those with a small number of students are often exempt. The questions are also tailored to individual courses.
