POSTER
Collecting Timely Student Feedback: an Online Course Evaluation Program
Julie Powell and Kathleen Quinlan
Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine
ABSTRACT:
Data from students about their learning and their experience of a course is critical to the scholarship of teaching. While many large scale course evaluation systems use only standardized questions and may have a considerable delay in outputting results, web-based applications can put tools into the hands of faculty that make it easy to create customized online questionnaires that yield instant results.
Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine has developed such an on-line student course evaluation program. The database program, intended to provide feedback for course improvement, helps support the scholarship of teaching by providing a vehicle for easily gathering, analyzing and displaying student feedback. The design allows faculty to write their own questions so they can focus on issues that concern them most. A databank of previously used or standardized questions is an option for faculty wanting a more guided approach. Whether it is student ratings of particular labs or instructors, students' study habits or students' use of instructional resources; faculty determine what type of student feedback is most needed for their particular course and teaching method.
Checks and balances have been built in to ensure students anonymity in their responses and ensure confidentiality to faculty. Evaluation designers choose who can take the evaluation, when it is available, and who can view the responses. Using a web platform eliminates the need to schedule a specific time and place for students to fill out the evaluation, while providing faculty with instantaneous access to their responses.
BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:
Participants will be shown a web-based alternative to traditional course evaluation methods. Several features of the program will be demonstrated, focusing on the ways in which faculty can create their own questionnaires, account for students' responses (while maintaining anonymity of individual responses), and view results.
Julie Powell
S2 169 Veterinary Education Center
College of Veterinary Medicine
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: (607) 253-3843
Email: jp266@cornell.edu
Kathleen Quinlan, PhD
Director Office of Educational Education
S2 169 Schurman Hall
College of Veterinary Medicine
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853