How to Get Students to Complete Course Evaluations

The end of the semester is sneaking up on us just as quickly as those extra holiday calories, and students are getting emails and D2L prompts to complete course evaluations. Many times, students choose to ignore optional tasks such as evaluations, and in other cases, they do not fully grasp the significance of completing them. Sometimes, students are just so stressed and fatigued by the end of the semester that they focus only on academic priorities.

How do we get students to complete course evaluations and give us the feedback we need?

The new process for completing evaluations has made it easier to convince students to do them. They can use a QR code that you distribute to them to complete evaluations on their phones, you can email them a direct link to the evaluation, or they can access the evaluation through D2L, where it is easily located. Each of you should have received an email from Laura McGoldrick with more detailed information. Each evaluation typically takes under five minutes to complete.

Students also want to know why these evaluations are important. It may help to explain that evaluations give them a chance to express how they feel about the course and instructor, in a professional and truthful way, of course. Consider telling students how meaningful the evaluations can be to the faculty who teach the courses and how the feedback we get can help us improve our instruction. You may choose to let them know that evaluations are a place where they can express gratitude or concern. Students receive our feedback all semester long, so now is their time to return the effort.

On rare occasions, students worry that we will know what they have written about us. Students need reassurance that the evaluations are anonymous and that we do not see them until the semester has ended and grades have been submitted.

It is also essential that we are not present when the students complete the evaluations. Some instructors reserve a computer lab or offer students extra credit for completing the evaluations. These ideas are both valid ways to guarantee completion, but we must make sure not to be in the room or offer any guidance or suggestions about how the students should respond.

As an instructor, our new evaluation method will allow you quick and comprehensive access to the evaluations once the semester has ended. You will even be able to see statistics about your ratings compared to others in your department and the college overall.

We hope your students will be eager to complete course evaluations this semester and recognize the wonderful work you have done with them and for them.

Are Our Students Different from Us?

In a world filled with conversations regarding recognizing and appreciating differences yet aiming for equality, it may be tricky to determine where we should put our focus when striving to reach diverse audiences in our classrooms. 

Increasingly, educational philosophers and theorists are pondering the differences between professors and students, not only in what is expected but also in life experience and goals. Some of the ideas that have been discussed regarding expectations are as follows:

• We expect students to be intrinsically motivated and interested in the topics and subjects we teach.
• We expect students to come to college with the overarching goal of increased learning and understanding of the complex world in which we live.
• We expect students to purchase materials as part of college requirements.
• We expect students to take our word as experts in the field.
• We refer students elsewhere when they have personal problems or issues that do not pertain to our class.

Students, on the other hand, may have different expectations:

• They may be motivated by outside factors and immediate results. They may be interested only in topics that pertain directly to their career goal.
• They may come to college with the overarching goal to provide for their family. Learning may only be important as it pertains to making money.
• Many students are products of a bargaining, negotiating society in which costly goods and services are questioned and must be justified.
• Many students expect a customer service model of education in which the professor must prove his or her worth in a variety of ways. Titles, degrees, and social status are unimportant and often suspicious.
• Students often want to know that we care about them as people; therefore, they want us to listen to them, invest time in them, and know them personally. 

More information on what students expect from instructors can be found in this Faculty Focus article.

Life experience has often been vastly different between professors and college students, as well. Other than obvious contrasts, such as age differences, those of us in higher education have often led a life enriched by academia from a very young age. We were encouraged to excel and were surrounded by intellectualism. People in our lives had high expectations of us. Consequently, we have a few underlying assumptions about the way the world works:

• Education is important for its own sake. It is also the best route to success.
• Career goals should revolve around passion, interest, and talent.
• College should be treated like a full-time job and a top priority.
• Work ethic should be applied indiscriminately to all pursuits.

Students, on the other hand, may view the these ideas and roles differently:

• Education is important for skills. It may not be the optimal path to success.
• Career goals should revolve around the potential payoff and likelihood of economic stability. 
• College is secondary to earning money or family obligations. It can and will be sacrificed if proper balance is not established.
• Work ethic should be applied to those tasks deemed worthwhile for immediate payoff, and energy should be conserved in other areas. 

Understanding the students in our classes and their perspectives on life and learning can make us more aware of ways in which to reach them. Surveying students about attitudes, ideas, goals, and expectations can help us determine how to better match our beliefs with theirs.