That is a very good question.
I think it is very much dependent on the student. Students who are motivated and want to do well, pay close attention to feedback provided. I have seen students ask for clarification, wanting to make sure that they understand the feedback.
On the other hand, I have seen students who go about without paying attention to any feedback, announcements, etc.
The most comprehensive feedback would be the feedback received from multiple sources. First, student feedback helps the instructor evaluate the teaching. Second, feedback from the supervisor helps the instructor understand how effective is the instructor. Another feedback could be from the college management.
The type of feedback that would be the most comprehensive would be a peer review of the entire course. This would also be the most difficult and time-consuming to accomplish. That is why we most often just use student evaluations.
It is important as curriculum is reviewed that as professionals, educators reflect upon their knowledge or lack thereof. Also, reviewing and learning technology is a must in an online environment. Based on this review a plan of professional development can be drawn up.
Evaluation is an important part of the quality assurance process. Does the course align with program goals and university mission? There may be benchmarking review that makes sure what is taught in the course matches with the educational or industrial landscape.
There is an increase in using the evaluation process toward personnel decisions. University officials are using data from the evaluation of the course in determining awards and promotion.
I have taught for 10 years and receive student surveys after each course. I always focus on the written feedback and not the numerical statistics, or the "agree/disagree" sections. I look forward to reading what the student's think about the course, where improvements can be made, and try to continue with the strengths in which the students articulated on.
I would love to have the surveys a mandatory requirement of each student, which includes written feedback. This would provide me with the most comprehensive feedback to close the loop.
Rick,
Paramount - what a good word to emphasize the importance of evaluations. When an instructor can self-reflect to make sure he/she is going the right thing and the course is on target - gold mine! Thanks!
Student evaluation and feedback are paramount to continued success of any online course. In a tradtional classroom setting body language and attitude and level of interest from the students can be seen and used to help the teacher in the classroom determine what works and what does not work. In an online environment, those tangible indicators are not available to us. Student feedback can be used to help the intructor self-reflect to see where he can continue to improve and allow for any course revisions that need to be made. I am a strong advocate of revising the curriculum on a regular basis to continually meet the needs of the learners.
Russell,
Right on. You are on track with your responses. I like the look at the grades and the written comments students make. These both help me think about how I am doing as the instructor and how the course is set up. Thanks!
Shelly,
Variety provides more information from different points of view. I particularly like your comment sabout cataloging comments students make and then making edits to your course. That is what it is all about. I typically need to teach a couse three times before I feel like it's almost right. ;-) Thanks!
There are several comprehensive feedback types that would help close the loop. Referring to the classroom, a continual review and revision of the syllabus and a comparison to course standards would be useful. As for the student, grades and interview type questions at the end of the course would be helpful to assess outcomes.
I also believe that various methods of evaluation are important. The more feedback and information you can gather the better.
I like the idea of peer evaluation. I have never really thought of that nor have I really ever heard of that being encouraged within the program I teach for, but I like the idea a lot and definitely will look into it.
I do also believe that feedback from the students themselves is important. Throughout the course and at the end. I try to catalog, informally, the various comments and questions presented throughout the course and then take that into consideration when I make changes for the next session.
Feedback provided by my supervisor is also important. It is just a formal check of the faculty expectations and keeps me accountable to basic things like number of announcements, length of live chats, etc.
Anthony,
Many people do a variety of evaluations including grades. You're right - it does help round out the picuture. Thanks!
I believe looking at the grades is one of the best tools to assess the efficacy of the course. My reasoning on this is based on the fact that the student's grades are raw data. They were invested in the material and most likely tried their best to complete the work, test, and quizzes.
Having student's evaluate the course tends to be more about where the student's psychology lies. Did they like the teacher? Was the content engaging? Could the evaluation possibly be seen or relayed to the teacher? In all those instances there are many variables and it is hard to discern if the student is invested in critically thinking about the course, or if they feel like there might be repercussions for speaking too honestly.
I feel like interviews and student evals can help round out the picture, but at the end of the day the grades are the most effective data that should show the trends of what was effectively taught and what was not in the class.
maryln,
Yes solving the problems would be essential. This helps the students learn at a higher level of Bloom's Taxonomy. Thanks.
I teach accounting and the evaluation that is best for my situation is an exam with problems. This allows the student to demonstrate they understand the concept and this closes the loop.
Janet,
I love to get feedback from my peers. So many times they see things differently and give me great advice.
I think another educator with subject matter expertise can probably provide the best feedback to incorporate positive changes. Also it is important to incorporate suggestions and comments from students.
Rich,
Excellent way to think about feedback - as a sounding board to new innovations. Thanks so much.
The students are a key stakeholder, and another group to consider is fellow instructors of a similar course at your institution or elsewhere. I have found that feedback to be an outstanding sounding board to new innovations.
ALLANA,
Ah - good question. I think of my evaluations similar to how I think about them in the F2F classroom. Do they measure the learning outcomes. I think you can do evaluations effectively online whether formative or summative, it's choosing the right technologies that can assist in this evaluation to measure learning.
