Though students have the chance to submit course evaluations every semester, Syracuse University’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment feels some students are still unaware of what the evaluations really mean.

In a recent faculty survey issued by OIRA, nearly 80 percent of faculty members said they use course evaluations to restructure or change their courses, said Seth Ovadia, assistant director of OIRA. He said he feels students would be more likely to complete their course evaluations if they knew their instructors pay attention to them.

OIRA’s system for online course evaluations opens Dec. 2, and students have two weeks to complete both online and paper evaluations, he said. He added that OIRA still struggles to make the evaluations visible on campus and inform students that their responses have the power to create change.

Last spring, 72,000 online forms — approximately 80 percent of SU’s course evaluations — were sent electronically, with 50,000 of them completed. Because more departments have moved online, Ovadia said he expects about 75,000 online forms to be distributed out this semester.

“We think there’s a little bit of a disconnect because students don’t see faculty making changes in response to their feedback,” Ovadia said. “It’s difficult because you take the course and complete it, but you don’t know what happens afterwards.”

Few students know that evaluations are a cornerstone of how the university assesses its quality of teaching, Ovadia said.

While most departments have switched to online evaluations, some departments still give students the option to fill them out on paper, he said.

“The online response is slightly lower than paper but we’re hoping that as students get used to doing their evaluations online, that gap will close,” Ovadia said. “Though the response rate for online has increased somewhat in the last couple of semesters.”

Most departments have chosen to move their course evaluations online, Ovadia said. The biology, science teaching, biomedical and chemical engineering and several other departments will have their evaluation systems online for the first time this semester, he said.

“The main motivation behind the university moving to an online system was to make it easier for students,” Ovadia said. “Students are more likely to give open-ended feedback, or I think that most feel comfortable typing out an answer than writing it.”

In spite of the online trend, the geography department still offers paper course evaluation forms, said Tod Rutherford, chair of the geography department.

But whether they’re offered online or on paper, Rutherford said, he always makes a point of telling his students that he reads and uses the forms to make course changes.

“If I get a strong sense that something isn’t working in my class, I’ll make changes,” Rutherford said. “Some students don’t feel comfortable confronting their teachers about something not working, which is totally understandable.”

It can sometimes be difficult to discern which areas need to be legitimately changed, Rutherford added. He studies student responses during an extended period so he can see trends rather than outlier responses from students who “love or hate something.”

Hannah Aronowitz, a sophomore, said she would be more likely to fill out course evaluations if they were distributed on paper. But she said the one advantage of online forms is that students may feel more inclined to write longer answers because their peers won’t judge them.

Mackenzie Ruby, an undeclared sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she is more likely to fill out paper evaluations because “they’re basically making you do it.” She believes tenured professors are less likely to pay attention to student opinions, she added.

Ovadia, the assistant director of OIRA, said the office will continue making course evaluations more visible to students through its website, emails and campus media. He said he hopes that once students realize their professors read evaluations, they’ll be more inclined to fill them out.

Ovadia said that even though evaluations can’t change students’ own experiences in a course, students should fill out evaluations to “pay it forward” to the next students to take the course.

“You do it for whoever’s going to take your BIO 101 next and when you’re sitting in BIO 104, people did it for you,” he said.

Published on November 21, 2013 at 1:12 am

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu