INSTRUCTOR TOOL KIT for ONLINE COURSE EVALUATIONS. The. Guide to your Course Evaluations

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1 INSTRUCTOR TOOL KIT for ONLINE COURSE EVALUATIONS The How to Guide to your Course Evaluations

2 Your Course Evaluations Team Who we are & what we do Queries & Concerns: Cherie Werhun, PhD Teaching Assessment & Course Evaluation Coordinator Overall management of service & workflows Assessment design Consultations with faculty External consultations Tara Wells, MSc Course Evaluation Assistant Evaluation report generation Evaluation project configuration Course evaluation user support & education Direct assistance to Cherie Werhun Victoria James Course Evaluation Assistant Data source verification & design ROSI Express support Administrative user support Jennifer Vella Course Evaluation Assistant User support Data verification Course evaluation project configuration

3 How to Choose Meaningful Items for your Course Evaluation Forms Selecting good course evaluation items is a great way for you, as an instructor, to get meaningful data about students learning experiences in your course(s). The institutional item bank is quite extensive in items available for instructors to choose from - when you first scan the list of items, you may find that you want to add a number of them, maybe even most of them, to your course evaluation forms. However, the number of additional items permitted to course evaluation forms is set by your divisional guidelines. How can you possibly narrow down your choices? 1. Take a step back from the actual activity of selecting items from the list and spend some time reflecting on the general areas of your teaching that you would like student feedback on. For example, are you interested in understanding how students experience the overall organization of your course? The use of group assignments or discussions? Or, are you more interested in receiving feedback from students on a specific instructional technique (e.g. your overall lecture pacing, or the extent to which you use examples when explaining course concepts, for example). 2. Once you have generated your assessment priority areas, open the Item Bank and navigate to the item categories that are related to your priorities. From here, you will look for items that align with your priorities, weighing the extent to which each one will provide the precise information you are interested in. 3. Create your list of items and if there are more than your allotted limit, go back and rank your priority areas and then eliminate the items that do not align with your top assessment priorities. Incorporating these steps when selecting items for your course evaluation forms will ensure that you are grounding your choices in areas that are meaningful to your teaching priorities; and ultimately overall development as an instructor. If you would like to discuss this approach further, please connect with Cherie at cherie.werhun@utoronto.ca.

4 How to add Items to your Course Evaluation Forms How to Access Blue You can continue to access all aspect of Blue from the ed links sent to you from the system Or, you can access Blue through Portal!

5 Evaluation Windows 2014 F Session Division Instructor Window Student Window Arts & Science, Undergraduate, F Nov 4-14 Nov 21-Dec 7 Arts & Science, Graduate, F Nov 4-14 Nov 21-Dec 7 UT: Mississauga, Undergraduate, F Nov 4-14 Nov 21-Dec 7 UT: Scarborough, Undergraduate, F Nov 4-14 Nov 20-Dec 4 Applied Science & Engineering, Undergraduate, F Nov 4-14 Nov 20-Dec 4 Faculty of Information, F Nov 3-13 Nov 22-Dec 8 Faculty of Music, Undergraduate, F Nov 4-14 Nov 21-Dec 7 Nursing, Undergraduate, F Nov 5-10 Nov 23-Dec 7 Nursing, Graduate, F Oct 29-Nov 7 Nov Social Work, F Nov 3-13 Nov 20-Dec 10

6 Engaging your Students in Course Evaluations ( Setting the Tone NOW: Engaging Students in your Course Evaluations By Cherie Werhun, PhD, Teaching Assessment & Course Evaluation Coordinator, CTSI Let s be honest: Course evaluations are the last thing on an instructor s mind in early September. Rather, this is the time when last minute course reading selections are being made, TA assignments are being worked out, and drafts of multiple versions of a course syllabus are being reviewed and reviewed and Here s the thing, though. Thinking about the role course evaluations or more broadly, student feedback plays in your course now can play a significant role in how students respond to your request for it later. Instructors who set the tone early or who create a learning environment that integrates the student perspective and experience into both course design and delivery tend to benefit at the end of term from students who see the value of providing feedback to their instructors. Why? By integrating regular feedback opportunities into your course, students have direct evidence that their instructor actually reads and applies the student perspective into their teaching. They witness the value and impact of providing their feedback. So, how can you as an instructor set the feedback tone early? Consider a few basic tips: 1. During your first class, when reviewing the course syllabus with your students, try to highlight changes to your course content, new readings, or activities, for example, that have resulted from previous student feedback. Similarly, when reviewing your course content and schedule, highlight aspects that you have worked on to enhance student understanding of the overall course material. In other words, explicitly show your students how their process for learning the course material is just as important to you as the content of the course material.

7 2. At the end of your first class, consider handing out a brief questionnaire, or assigning a oneminute paper, asking students to provide their immediate impressions of the course content, the layout of the course, and/or any areas that they feel apprehension/excitement. During subsequent classes, be sure to mention their feedback and then specify how you are responding to it within the context of a specific class or the overall course. 3. Consider placing brief opportunities for subsequent feedback throughout your course. For example, you might wish to hear what students thought of a film, a discussion activity, or a problem set. Ask them! Alternatively, you might wish to include a short mid-course feedback, as well. This shows your students that you are interested in their learning experience throughout the course, which provides an opportunity for you to monitor and adjust what you do. Providing opportunities for your students to provide feedback about their learning of the course material and then demonstrating how you respond to this feedback creates the space within your course for reciprocal communication that will set the tone for final feedback when students are invited to complete course evaluations. Investing early in this process will ensure that students see the value and impact of their feedback immediately and throughout your course. If you would like to consider other strategies to talk to your students about the importance of their feedback in your course, CTSI has a resource document on the Course Evals tab within Portal. Also, if you would like additional guidance, please connect with the Course Evaluations Team at course.evaluations@utoronto.ca. Have a great semester!

8 TALKING To Your Students About Course Evaluations INSTRUCTORS: Worried about Response Rates? Talk to your Students about Course Evaluations! This tip sheet provides you with simple strategies for talking to your students about course evaluations. These strategies have been found to improve online course evaluation response rates because they educate, engage, and create an open dialogue with students about the important role course evaluations play in students overall learning experiences. Research demonstrates that engaged and informed students are motivated to complete course evaluations- you can encourage this engagement by demonstrating your involvement in course evaluations. 1. Remind your students in-class that the course evaluation window is open for your division. Evaluation window dates are available from your division and are posted on the CTSI web site at: It s important that you demonstrate your awareness and interest in course evaluations by sharing information with students about course evaluation timelines. Make in-class announcements, post announcements or messages on Blackboard, etc., to communicate that you are aware of the course evaluation process for the course. 2. Integrate just-in-time slides into your lectures. These slides can be customized each term to include the relevant dates for your division. They are available on-line through the CTSI web site. 3. Educate your students on how course evaluations are used. Students are often unaware that instructors review this feedback, so this is an ideal opportunity to tell your students how you use their feedback to enhance your course each year. In 2008, CTSI ran a series of focus groups with students and found that a majority of students were unaware of the ways in which evaluations were used. Knowing that collected data are read by instructors and academic administrators for the purposes of course and teaching enhancement, curriculum design, annual faculty performance reviews, tenure, promotion and teaching awards, can alter how they approach course evaluations. Many students indicated that they wished they d been informed of this by their instructors.

9 TALKING To Your Students About Course Evaluations 4. Build time into your class for students to complete their evaluations. You may wish to provide dedicated time during a lecture for students to complete their evaluations. This can be achieved in the following ways: Allow your students to leave a bit early so that they can complete their evaluations on their mobile devices or laptops, in the library, or at home. If WiFi or cell networks are available, you may want to allocate sufficient class time for students to fill out their evaluations on their mobile devices or laptops. Keep in mind that not all students will have access to these devices and data collected by CTSI on students attitudes toward the new framework demonstrates that many prefer to complete their evaluations outside of class when they have more time to carefully reflect on their experience in the course. 5. Talk about student feedback throughout the year. CTSI has produced a helpful resource on how to incorporate information from student course evaluations into your course, see Portal Course Evals tab. Remember: Whenever you make changes to your course, be sure to inform your students of these changes. This demonstrates that you value student feedback and that you incorporate it into your teaching practice in other words, you act on their feedback. By demonstrating how you respond to their efforts to provide feedback, you build a dialogue that highlights both yours and the students roles in their learning experiences. 6. Consider administering a mid-course evaluation. This strategy also helps to demonstrate that you are engaged in an informed and adaptable teaching practice that encourages student feedback throughout the course. See the CTSI handbook on Gathering Formative Feedback through Mid-Course Evaluations for suggested strategies. Contact: Cherie Werhun, Course Evaluation Support Officer cherie.werhun@utoronto.ca Tara Wells, Course Evaluation Assistant tara.wells@utoronto.ca

10 How to Access your Course Evaluation Response Rates during a Session:

11 Course Evaluation Reports Policy on Report Release o According to the Provostial Guidelines on Course Evaluations, instructor reports can only be released after all grades for a Division have been approved by the Registrar s Office o Each Division sets the date by which reports should be released o This is usually about 1 month after the end of the evaluation window How to Access your Reports:

12 Changes Happen: What to do when Your course assignment changes Request that your department notify the Course Evaluations Team as soon as possible We configure the evaluation system using information submitted by your department Your preferred name is not on your evaluations Contact the HRIS team and notify your department. Changes must be made by them! o Instructor information for Blue is pulled from HRIS and ROSI data You aren t receiving s from Course Evals Check your junk-mail folder. If s from course.evaluations@utoronto.ca are in there, be sure to add us to your Safe Sender list Turn off forwarding. Some services like Gmail and Hotmail don t always push all of your s from your utoronto account Still not working? Contact us at course.evaluations@utoronto.ca and remember to state your name, Division, and the course(s) you re teaching You ve received an from us about 1 of your courses, but not another If you are teaching in more than 1 Faculty or Division, the evaluation windows might be different. Check the dates attached or by visiting the Course Evals tab in Portal Note also that some courses are excluded from the Evaluation Framework: research & reading courses, field courses, 1 to 1 teaching, etc. Still not sure? Check with your department