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EDITORIAL: Incentives for evaluations
Students should recieve rewards for completion
Editorial | 10/23/07
Posted online at 11:21 PM EST on 10/22/07
/ Last updated at 3:07 PM EST on 10/22/07
We were encouraged to see that online evaluations are replacing the paper ones. The amount of paper that can be saved and the easy preservation of digital data are certainly great advantages. However, we are concerned that the move will result in fewer students completing these vital evaluations.
Even in the current paper format, certain courses have lower-than- expected completion rates. In the move to an out-of-class online survey, it is very likely that without incentives, even more students will not take the initiative to complete their evaluations. In a test run last year of 1,600 students, only 51 percent of students responded. These results are clearly suboptimal.
Provost Marty Krauss announced at a faculty meeting two weeks ago that the importance of these evaluations would be emphasized. "We want to make them part of the academic culture," she said. This is laudable, because students should realize that their responses actually do have an impact on the tenure process and course enrollment, as students factor the quality of a course's evaluation into deciding whether to take the class. Student input is essential. However, we believe the administration should go even further.
Because the completion of these evaluations is a vital service for future students planning to take the same course, students should be given incentives to complete them. With the new digital format, for instance, grades could be revealed earlier to students who have completed their evaluations. Additionally, classes with the highest evaluation completion rate among students could be awarded prizes such as gift certificates. While there may be occasional reasons why a student would rather not complete an evaluation at all, we feel that proper rewards certainly would lead most students to be diligent in their completion.
The administration should do everything it can to foster a culture of course evaluation completion . Students should also do their part in making the online move an overwhelming success.
Even in the current paper format, certain courses have lower-than- expected completion rates. In the move to an out-of-class online survey, it is very likely that without incentives, even more students will not take the initiative to complete their evaluations. In a test run last year of 1,600 students, only 51 percent of students responded. These results are clearly suboptimal.
Provost Marty Krauss announced at a faculty meeting two weeks ago that the importance of these evaluations would be emphasized. "We want to make them part of the academic culture," she said. This is laudable, because students should realize that their responses actually do have an impact on the tenure process and course enrollment, as students factor the quality of a course's evaluation into deciding whether to take the class. Student input is essential. However, we believe the administration should go even further.
Because the completion of these evaluations is a vital service for future students planning to take the same course, students should be given incentives to complete them. With the new digital format, for instance, grades could be revealed earlier to students who have completed their evaluations. Additionally, classes with the highest evaluation completion rate among students could be awarded prizes such as gift certificates. While there may be occasional reasons why a student would rather not complete an evaluation at all, we feel that proper rewards certainly would lead most students to be diligent in their completion.
The administration should do everything it can to foster a culture of course evaluation completion . Students should also do their part in making the online move an overwhelming success.
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