Instructor-and-Course Evaluations Help

Addressing Instructor-and-Course Evaluations and Improving Teaching Effectiveness

Instructor and course evaluations, whether positive or negative, provide valuable insights into students’ learning experiences and the effectiveness of their teaching strategies. Evaluations are an opportunity to improve and develop as an educational professional. This document offers actionable steps for faculty to respond to evaluations constructively and improve their teaching based upon both positive and negative feedback. It highlights the importance of mid-term evaluations as a proactive solution to improve pedagogical challenges. As a reminder, anonymous student evaluations on third-party websites are never considered by SMU’s leadership in terms of promotion and other job-related affairs.

At the end of the semester/term when you get your instructor-and-course evaluations results: 

1. Reflect on Student Feedback

  • Step Back Emotionally: Approach evaluations with an open mind. Whether the feedback is positive or negative, it’s important to focus on the substance of the comments and to understand that students’ perspectives are a combination of course expectations, relationships with the professor, and outside factors. 
  • Separate Constructive from Non-Constructive Feedback: Focus your attention on comments that offer specific, actionable insights rather than those that are vague or emotionally charged. Actionable comments are most valuable to you and to any potential teaching evaluators. 
  • Identify Patterns: Keep track of recurring themes in both positive and negative student feedback. If several students mention the same points, those areas may require pedagogical reevaluation or enhancement in the next iteration of your course. Make an appointment with your chair and/or the CTE cte@smu.edu as needed for extra guidance in the process or reevaluating pedagogical and course design matters. 

 

2. Leverage Positive Feedback for Improvement

  • Acknowledge your Strengths: Positive evaluations can highlight what is working well. Recognizing these strengths allows faculty to build on successful strategies. 
  • Reinforce Effective Practices: If students consistently praise certain aspects of your teaching—such as clear explanations, engaging activities, or fair assessments—continue to integrate and expand on these practices in other areas of the course.
  • Share Best Practices: At the CTE, we are proud to showcase great teaching, and we invite all faculty to share what works well in their classrooms with their SMU colleagues through peer discussions and/or workshops. Contact cte@smu.edu with your experiences and we will find a way to reward and promote your teaching contributions. Sharing good teaching through the CTE is one way to fulfil the requirements of the SMU promotion guidelines.

 

3. Strategies for Improvement Based on Negative Feedback

  • Clarity in Communication:
    • Action: If students report confusion or lack of clarity in instruction and/or assignment design, break down complex concepts and use more examples, visuals, or analogies to enhance understanding. Use Canvas Announcements to let your students know how to prepare for upcoming assignments. Revise your Canvas assignments to ensure all directions are clear and direct. Include detailed rubrics for your assessments to communicate to students how they will be evaluated. Create a module of Exemplary Student Work in your Canvas course in which you showcase anonymized work of previous students that you find exceptional. Busy as they are, students will appreciate your efforts in making your communication and assessment instructions as clear and friendly as possible. 
  • Engagement and Interaction in the Classroom:
    • Action: Negative feedback around student engagement can be addressed by incorporating active learning strategies such as group discussions, case studies, or interactive polls. Incorporate games and other cooperative or competitive activities that support students in reviewing material and learning new concepts. Students benefit from a variety of pedagogical approaches, especially those that get them to stand up, mix with other students, and actively participate in the learning process.
  • Availability and Support:
    • Action: If students express concerns about your availability, clarify your office hours and communication expectations. You may want to offer an additional office hour at a time when more students can attend. Lastly, offering virtual office hours and stating to students that they may reach out to schedule a meeting outside of office hours may accommodate students with varying schedules. Do your best to answer all student emails as soon as possible. If multiple students ask for similar things, use Canvas Announcements to address the whole class as well as the students who did not wrote to you, but who may have similar concerns. 
  • Grading and Feedback:
    • Action: Students may express frustration with grading practices. To address this, provide detailed rubrics and clear explanations for how assignments are evaluated. Include links to redacted and anonymized exemplary student work. Run in-class workshops/reviews with your students showing them exactly how they can best meet class expectations. Create a set of ungraded or low-stakes practice assignments/exams that mimic your official assignments/exams in form, content, and difficulty. Please contact the CTE cte@smu.edu if you need help creating assignments or designing learning modules. 

 

4. Conduct Mid-Term Evaluations

Conducting optional mid-term evaluations is a proactive way to address potential issues before the end of the course, allowing for real-time adjustments. Your students will appreciate seeing your effort in addressing their concerns right away. 

  • Why Mid-Term Evaluations Matter:
    • They enable instructors to identify and resolve student concerns while the course is still ongoing, improving both learning outcomes and end-of-semester evaluations. 
    • Conducting mid-term evaluations and sharing with your classes the adjustments you are making based upon their feedback shows students that you are a proactive instructor who cares about your students, their opinions, and their learning.
    • At the end of the semester, students often provide less actionable feedback, as they no longer see how their evaluations can impact their experience. In contrast, mid-term evaluations tend to offer more valuable insights, as students are still engaged and interested in how the course can improve for them.
       
  • How to Implement Mid-Term Evaluations:
    • Anonymous Feedback: Ensure anonymity to encourage honest responses. You may use SMU’s Canvas Feedback Box function to solicit anonymous feedback. To do so, you must click on the link in Canvas to activate the system each semester. Then, prepare a Power Point slide or a handout with ready-made questions for your students to evaluate your teaching, class materials, clarity of communication, grading practices, etc. (At the end of this webpage, you will find examples of mid-term evaluation templates you may adapt to your course.) Ask your students to then go on Canvas and click on the Feedback Box and respond to your questions there. Let them know the process is anonymous and that you will do your best to implement reasonable and action-oriented feedback.
    • Respond to Feedback: After receiving feedback, discuss with the class the changes you plan to implement. It is very important that you clearly communicate to the students that you have read their suggestions and have made a plan for implementing reasonable changes.

 

5. Engage in Professional Development at the CTE

  • Attend Workshops: In collaboration with SMU professors, the CTE offers workshops on effective teaching strategies, classroom management, best practices for receiving and incorporating student feedback and highlights a broad range of pedagogical topics yearly. 
  • Seek Peer Observations: Invite a trusted colleague to observe your class and provide feedback on your teaching style. Peer observations are an important part of SMU’s promotion guidelines. Prepare for them by asking a CTE instructional designer or a peer to observe your class and then discuss how it went. The more practice you have the better. Seek to be observed, at minimum, once per year. 
  • Consult with Experts: SMU’s Center for Teaching Excellence can provide consultations to help you reflect on evaluations and devise strategies for pedagogical improvement. We are here to serve you and offer non-judgmental and risk-free assessment. Our consultations are always private and never reported to departments or the university leadership. 

 

7. Using Generative AI to Summarize Commentary on Student Evaluations

A beneficial feature of Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT is their ability to summarize and synthesize large data. By using the prompt below, you will be able to leverage Generative AI to summarize patterns in student feedback, highlighting key areas of strength and providing you with suggestions for improvement.

Use the prompt below (adapted from Yee, 2024), fill it out with your information, and then paste it into the Generative AI tool of your choice along with your student evaluations PDF file.

Prompt: 

You are a faculty member who taught [#] sections of [COURSE] during the last semester. Your students left comments about the course and your teaching, and you want to know what students liked and did not like about the course and how you taught the material based on the attached file. Use the uploaded file to learn the following: a) what did students like about the course; b) what did students not like about the course; c) what suggestions did students give for improving the course; d) what did students like about your teaching; e) what did students not like about your teaching; f) what suggestions did students give for improving your teaching. Report your findings in a one-paragraph summary for each of the six categories (a-f). Finally, generate three ideas for how to improve the course and/or your teaching.

 

Mid-term Course Evaluation Sample Questions

(Sample 1)

 

  1. How clear are the instructions for assignments and activities? What could be improved?
  2. Do you feel the course objectives are clearly communicated? If not, which aspects are unclear?
  3. How engaging do you find the lectures or class discussions? What could be done to make them more engaging? 
  4. Are there enough opportunities for you to interact with your peers and ask questions during class?
  5. Do you feel I am accessible when you need support or have questions? How might my availability be improved?
  6. Are my office hours helpful to you? If not, what changes would make them more effective?
  7. Is the feedback you receive on your work helpful for your learning? What type of feedback would you find more useful?

 

 

 

Mid-term Course Evaluation Sample Questions

(Sample 2)

 

  1. What aspects of this course have you found most engaging so far?
  2. Are there any specific topics or concepts that you are struggling with? How can I help clarify them?
  3. How would you describe the pace of the course? Is it too fast, too slow, or just right?
  4. What teaching strategies or activities do you find most effective in helping you learn?
  5. Do you feel comfortable participating in class discussions? If not, what could be done to make you feel more comfortable?
  6. How well do the assignments and assessments help you understand the course material?
  7. Is there anything I could do differently to better support your learning?
  8. Do you feel you’re receiving enough feedback on your work? If not, what kind of feedback would be more helpful?
  9. What can I do to improve your overall experience in this course?
  10. Is there anything else you’d like to share about the course or your learning experience?

 

 

 

Mid-term Course Evaluation Sample Questions

(Sample 3)

 

Stop, Start, Continue is a simple yet effective method to get structured feedback from students during mid-course evaluations. Here’s how you can implement it:

  • Stop Doing: Ask students what aspects of the course or teaching style they feel are not working or are hindering their learning. This could be certain types of assignments, a specific classroom practice, or even the pace of lectures. Example questions:
    • What should I stop doing in this class because it is not helping your learning?
    • Are there teaching methods or activities that are less effective or distracting?
  • Start Doing: This section focuses on new strategies or activities students believe could enhance their learning. It encourages students to share what they think would be beneficial to add to the course. Example questions:
    • What should I start doing to better support your understanding of the material?
    • Is there something that’s currently missing from the course that you think would help?
  • Continue Doing: Here, students can identify the aspects of the course that they find effective and supportive of their learning. It encourages positive reinforcement and helps the instructor know what is working well. Example questions:
    • What should I continue doing because it helps you learn effectively?
    • Are there aspects of my teaching style or certain activities you’d like to see continue?

This method of a mid-term evaluation is simple, actionable, and encourages students to think critically about their learning experience, providing clear directions for the instructor on what’s working, what’s not, and what can be improved.

 

 

 

Further Reading and Analysis

Anderson, Terry. “Getting the Mix Right Again: An Updated and Theoretical Rationale for Interaction.” International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, vol. 4, no. 2, 2003, pp. 9–14.

Benton, Stephen L., and William E. Cashin. Student Ratings of Teaching: A Summary of Research and Literature. IDEA Paper No. 50, 2012.

Boring, Anne, Kellie Ottoboni, and Philip B. Stark. “Student Evaluations of Teaching (Mostly) Do Not Measure Teaching Effectiveness.” ScienceOpen Research, 2016, pp. 1-11.

Brew, Angela, and Paul Ginns. “The Relationship between Engagement in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Students’ Course Experiences.” Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, vol. 33, no. 5, 2008, pp. 535–545.

Chen, Yu, and Louis B. Hoshower. “Student Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness: An Assessment of Student Perception and Motivation.” Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, vol. 28, no. 1, 2003, pp. 71–88.

Feldman, Kenneth A. “Identifying Exemplary Teaching: Using Data from Course and Teacher Evaluations.” New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 114, 2007, pp. 41–50.

Gravestock, Pamela, and Erin Gregor-Greenleaf. Student Course Evaluations: Research, Models, and Trends. Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, 2008.

Hativa, Nira, and Menucha Birenbaum. “Who Prefers What? Disciplinary Differences in Students' Preferred Approaches to Teaching and Learning Styles.” Research in Higher Education, vol. 41, no. 2, 2000, pp. 209–36.

Hendry, Graham D., and Geoffrey R. Oliver. “Seeing Is Believing: The Benefits of Peer Observation of Teaching.” Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, vol. 9, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1–9.

Keeley, Jared W., David Smith, and William Buskist. “The Teacher Behaviors Checklist: Factor Analysis of Its Utility for Evaluating Teaching.” Teaching of Psychology, vol. 33, no. 2, 2006, pp. 84–91.

Kenny, Neil, and Cyndy Hall. “Developing Teachers: The Need for the Nexus of Teaching and Research in Professional Development.” International Journal for Academic Development, vol. 14, no. 2, 2009, pp. 111–22.

Marsh, Herbert W., and Lawrence A. Roche. “Effects of Grading Leniency and Low Workload on Students’ Evaluations of Teaching: Popular Myth, Bias, Validity, or Innocent Bystanders?” Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 92, no. 1, 2000, pp. 202–28.

McGowan, William R., and Russell T. Osguthorpe. “Student and Faculty Perceptions of Mid-Term Evaluations.” Journal of Research in Education, vol. 21, no. 2, 2011, pp. 66–84.

Nulty, Duncan D. “The Adequacy of Response Rates to Online and Paper Surveys: What Can Be Done?” Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, vol. 33, no. 3, 2008, pp. 301–14.

Prince, Michael. “Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research.” Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 93, no. 3, 2004, pp. 223–31.

Sadler, D. Royce. “Grade Integrity and the Representation of Academic Achievement.” Studies in Higher Education, vol. 34, no. 7, 2009, pp. 807–26.

Spooren, Pieter, Bart Brockx, and Dimitri Mortelmans. “On the Validity of Student Evaluation of Teaching: The State of the Art.” Review of Educational Research, vol. 83, no. 4, 2013, pp. 598–642.

Steinert, Yvonne. “Faculty Development: From Workshops to Communities of Practice.” Medical Teacher, vol. 32, no. 5, 2010, pp. 425–28.

Supiano, Beckie. “What If You Can’t Remove the Bias from Course Evaluations?” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 Oct. 2024, www.chronicle.com/newsletter/teaching/2024-10-17. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.

Wachtel, Howard K. “Student Evaluation of College Teaching Effectiveness: A Brief Review.” Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, vol. 23, no. 2, 1998, pp. 191–212.

Yee, Kevin; Uttich, Laurie; Main, Eric; and Giltner, Elizabeth, "AI Hacks for Educators" (2024). UCF Created OER Works. 9. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/oer/9