I believe that the three most important ways to evaluate a course are
1)self evaluation
2) peer evaluation
3) student evaluation
One thing I do not believe is an effective measure of a course is student grades. That puts the responsibility of learning entirely on the teacher while students are also responsible for learning. I understand that if the majority of students are not passing or learning the material then evaluation of the course needs to be done, but on an individual basis saying that student grades are a jumping off point for evaluation completely takes all educational responsibility off the students. Perhaps I misunderstood this segment, but this is what I believe.
Tony,
"They" say if you get over 50% of the online surveys back, that's good. Have you tried extra credit or making the response to the survey a part of their participation grade? We can see who fills out the surveys, but not what they said, we we can do that. It helps. We get about 65% returned.
We use anonymous end-of-course surveys. It's been a challenge getting students to participate. There's been a big push to encourage students to submit their surveys. The school sends and email to students. The department chairperson sends an email to the students. The instructors are taught that it’s best-practice to contact the students. Despite three reminders prior to survey launch, we’ve seen less than twenty percent responses.
Tony,
Who are these quality control personnel and managers? What do they know about your content? What do they know about effective pedagogy in the online environment?
Tony,
Not if it's anonymous. I always ask in an anonymous way and then at the end of the course, they are used to providing me with feedback and I get even more.
Tony,
Classroom audits. Are those done by your peers or administrators?
John,
You do get good feedback from end-of-course evaluations, but it's good to get feedback in a variety of ways. Thanks!
At my school, online courses are audited by quality control personnel and managers. We’re evaluated on the mechanics of our delivery and not necessarily the content.
I would welcome a content peer evaluation process. Not only could I benefit from the feedback I receive, I would learn from evaluating other instructor’s work.
Some students are hesitant to provide honest feedback mid-course. They may fear retribution. That’s why it’s critical to establish an atmosphere of trust early on.
At my school, student evaluations and classroom audits are used to provide feedback to the instructor. In addition, I utilize grades as a high level gauge as to how well students understood and applied the content.
I also reflect upon the questions I receive to help refine my material. For example, if I receive the same question from multiple students, I’ll update the future content to address the question.
Tena,
Hello. The end-of-course student evaluations are very important to review to see if there should be revisions to the course.
Regards,
John Halstead
I would say grades and student evaluations to help me make sure that I am teaching to an appropriate level for my students.
Willie ,
You are so right. Thanks again for your input.
Willie ,
Performance assessment certainly have a great place in the online environment. At times it is difficult in an online course how to do that effectively, but it is always smart to think about various assessments. Thanks for your input.
I totally agree with you that methods differ from class to class. It could and perhaps should be argued that the design, implementation and evaluation of online education is essentially no different from any other form of learning and many of the evaluation methods and tools described elsewhere on this website apply equally well to online. The technolgies and approaches that consitiutes online are varied, often blended with traditional approaches and no two cases are quite the same. So it is difficult to provide a single approach to evaluating impact. :-)
I think that performance assessments are a good way to "close the loop." Performance assessment is designed so that students demonstrate that they have a mature understanding of course content--specifically, of the major course concepts. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways that include: visual, oral and/or written products or performances that have been designed with specific goals that students must achieve based on standards of success for the project. :-)
Lori & William,
Thanks for continuing the conversation. We are only human. We do what we can do to the best of our abilities. Keep on truckin'!
Stanley,
The largest class I have ever had online was over 400. The lastest class I taught online was over 200 students. I typically provide comprehensive feedback on the first assignment to get them started on the right foot and include a few "snippets" of what they should do in the future. Then, when they make the same mistakes, I tell them to go watch/listen to the first assessment. Do you really need students to turn in 120 assignments each week that YOU grade? What about peer evaluation? Group evaluation? Thanks for your input.
Les,
Student evaluations are essential but you can get feedback from so many other methods as well. When you get feedback from a variety of audiences, you get different perspectives on the topic. Thanks for your input.
William- that answer made me laugh..."in your minds eye" you think the online courses you created are perfect !!
We all feel the same...but we are only human and we will miss something. No matter how many times I have taught a course, I am always revising and making it better for the next time I teach it.
