Increasing your course evaluation response rate
9 October 2024
Course evaluations are now open for students to complete and can be a great way to obtain student feedback that will guide the improvements you make to future course offerings.
Students are asked to provide feedback on learning outcomes, teaching methods, the availability and helpfulness of instructional resources, and assessment. If you would like feedback on a specific element of the course (eg the use of guest lecturers), you can ask students to provide comments in the course evaluation or as part of your last day of class.
Students can access the course evaluation using a link on the Akoraka | Learn course page or dashboard. For more information on how students navigate the course evaluations, please visit the Course Evaluations section on Ākona te Akoraka | Learn about Learn.
Research shows that if you spend some time encouraging students to complete the course evaluation, your response rate will increase. Here are some suggestions to help you:
- Promote, both in class and via your Akoraka | Learn course page announcements, the importance of course evaluations for helping make improvements to future course offerings and the student learning experience.
- Provide an example of how you have used past student feedback to improve your teaching and the course – this will reinforce that you take student feedback seriously.
- Let students know that although they may not benefit directly from the feedback they give for this course, their feedback will influence your teaching and any future courses they take with you.
- Allocate class time (eg 10-15 minutes) for students to complete the course evaluation on their personal device. This works best at the beginning of a class session.