Student evaluation comments summer 2023

The summer 2023 student evaluations included comments focused in four areas. 

1. Changes Needed: Please write down specific suggestions you would like to make for this Instructor.
2. Changes Needed: Please write down specific suggestions you would like to make for this course.
3. Changes Needed: Please write down specific suggestions you would like to make for the course materials.
4. Other Comments

347 students had responded to the survey at the time this article was drafted. An analysis of the survey items was done earlier. The patterns seen in the 275 responses analyzed have held generally the same with the addition of 72 additional surveys. 

There were 794 comments made by the 347 students across all four focus areas. In the following the comments from all four areas were combined. The intent is to look for broad themes in the comments rather than specific recommendations at the instructor, course, or course materials level. The comments were divided into three categories. One category was for generic, nonspecific positive comments. The second was for comments of a neutral nature. The third was for comments recommending areas of change. 

344 of the comments were of a generically positive nature. These were complimentary comments along the lines of "All good", "I liked this course", "The course materials were appropriate", or "The instructor is good." 

331 comments were of interpreted to be of a neutral nature such as "N/A", "None", "Nothing", or "No changes needed." 

119 comments made or implied making recommended changes. 

Of the 119 change recommendations, 26 were deemed to be unique recommendations that did not fall into a broader category. This included comments such as a request to start every class with a prayer, a single comment that a course was missing some of the materials the students were instructed to download, and a single one off requests that were fairly clearly relevant only to a specific course such as a request to add group online project presentations to a course.

The most common comment was a request to return to face-to-face classes, to residential instruction, or, as one student put it, to meet on the ground. I have suppose that the request to meet on the ground is meant in contrast to meeting in the cloud. 

Students wanted to see more support materials in their courses. More materials, more assignments and they wanted text books to be more accessible, to be online, and preferably free. Students want faculty to be available, to reply promptly, and to mark assignments in a timely manner. 

As one student said, "I just want to share something about my instructor. I need [them] to reply to our messages because till now [they] haven't reply back to our messages." Done right, online education is a heavy lift for faculty. Students expect responses within 24 hours. Faculty may object and feel this is unfair, especially when students may take days to respond, but the online kitchen is a busy place. If nothing else a quick, "I saw your message and while I am busy at the moment, I will respond as soon as I reasonably can."  Online faculty should carry a cell phone and have the Canvas Teacher app enabled. 

The category "Be reachable" referred to students who were on the same island as their instructor attempting to meet with their instructor in person and being unable to do so, unable to contact their residential instructor. 

There were also comments on assignments locking and not being reopened for students. In the spring of 2021 I ran my MS 150 Statistics course with no lock dates. None. Assignments were open until the last day of class. Assignments had due dates, but no lock dates. At the end of the term I had much higher than average failure rates. The term was an academic disaster. My daughter informed me that this was strictly my fault, not the students' fault. I was caught off guard by that assessment. Hadn't I given the students maximum flexibility? My daughter pointed out that students operate on the lock dates, not the due dates. There has to be a hard deadline or there is no compulsion to get the work done. And, of course, a single hard deadline at term end meant there was too much to be done at one time. Thus I went back to using lock dates. That said, if a student requests an assignment be reopened I generally reopen the assignment. 

There were three comments on being on time to class, but because this study combined answers to all four comment columns this could be a single respondent referring to a single instructor. 

Comments are a complex area to interpret. Few students make specific comments and there is no way to know if a comment reflects only the view of the commentator or is a more broadly held view among students. That there were six comments requesting more timely response to messages from students overlooks that 341 other students, perhaps more, who did not choose to make that comment. It is easy to overreact and to paint with too broad a brush. The comments should be taken as anecdotal and should be used to raise awareness but do not necessarily demand training sessions. 

Perhaps most important is for instructors to see the comments students have made. The comments can lead to individual changes. 

If one were to read all of the comments the overall impression one takes away from the comments is that the college has a capable, competent, and well liked faculty. The faculty at the college are thanked for sharing their knowledge and for caring about their students. This is the big picture take home message from the evaluations: the instructional staff at the college are awesome.