Course Evaluations

Faculty have the option of choosing the Learning Essentials (short) form (18 questions), or the Diagnostic Feedback (long) form (40 questions). By default, every course section is assigned the Learning Essentials (short) form; however, we strongly recommend that every instructor consider using the Diagnostic Feedback (long) form. In particular, the Diagnostic Feedback form gives you analysis and direct suggestions on ways to improve your teaching that the Learning Essentials (short) form does not.

Diagnostic Feedback ("Long") Form

The Diagnostic Feedback (long) form: As described by the IDEA center, the Diagnostic Feedback form is "a comprehensive assessment of teaching effectiveness". In addition to the content of the Learning Essentials form below, the Diagnostic Feedback form includes a set of questions related to teaching practices in the course. Based on students responses to these questions, you can receive formative feedback on teaching approaches to strengthen based on the learning objectives you selected as important or essential.

•  See the items on the Diagnostic Feedback form.

Learning Essentials ("Short") Form

The Learning Essentials (short) form: As described by the IDEA Center, the Learning Essentials form "provides feedback about student progress on relevant learning objectives. [...] The instrument also includes the “overall” or summative items included with all IDEA instruments: “Overall, I rate this instructor an excellent teacher,” and “Overall, I rate this course as excellent.” Learning Essentials is appropriate to use in courses where there is little direct instruction and outcomes are most important such as in a practicum or laboratory course.

For each course, you will be prompted to select which learning objectives are "Important" or "Essential." It is generally recommended that you select 3-5 outcomes.

Selection of outcomes matters for several reasons:

• Students are rating the things you care about: While students are asked about every learning objective in every course, only those objectives you select as "important" or "essential" are averaged into your summary statistics for the course ("essential" objectives are weighted twice as much as "important" objectives).

• If you don't select learning objectives that match you or your department's course goals, then all outcomes are weighted equally by default, and your summary data will include students' ratings of outcomes that may have had nothing to do with the course experience.

• You can get targeted feedback based on your objectives: If you choose the Diagnostic Feedback ("long") form, you'll be able to access formative feedback based on the IDEA center's database of hundreds of thousands of course, identifying teaching approaches that you can strengthen, maintain, or enhance in your course based on students' description of your teaching and the learning objectives you've selected as important. The teaching approaches associated with student success are different for different learning outcomes -- selecting objectives that match your course gives you the most relevant feedback.

How to get your IDEA Center numerical evaluations:

1. Select the correct term in the “Change Term” drop down menu.

    

2. Click on the “View Results” for the course you have listed on your APE. (Note: most numbers needed for the APE are all under “Summary,” the first square.)

    

3. “Sum” on the APE is “Your Average,” given on a 5-point scale.Choose either the raw or adjusted average, whichever is higher, available by using the “View” drag down menu over to the left.

   

    

4. “All” is the percentage under “Converted Average Comparison” as long as the “Compared to” drag down menu is set to “IDEA Database.” Again, choose the raw or adjusted average.

    

   

5. “Disc” is the percentage when “Compared to” is set to “IDEA Discipline.” Again, choose the raw or adjusted average (Note: some objectives are new, so some IDEA Discipline results may be not available.)

    

   

    

6. “Students” is the number of “Students Responded” / number of “Students Enrolled,” available at the top, directly to the left of your name.