Hi Eugene
I’ve had the same experience. And not just for my own classes but for those of many other instructors in a program that I direct. Response rates ranging from 25% to a high of 45%.
In comparison, in this same program, response rates to paper-based evals distributed in class were in the 82%-95% range.
I feel that the online format has made them pretty useless – or at least unreliable, as the samples are probably not unbiased. I don’t feel comfortable assuming that they represent the actual distribution of student sentiment.
Andrew von Nordenflycht
Beedie School of Business
From: Eugene McCann <emccann@sfu.ca>
Sent: Monday, December 4, 2023 9:05 PM
To: Faculty Forum Mail List <academic-discussion@sfu.ca>
Subject: Is it just me?!
Dear colleagues,
Thought I’d use this forum to try to help me understand something going on in my classes and maybe yours too:
As of earlier today, only about 15% of students in one of my classes and 20% in another had filled in their Course Evaluations online. That means something like 12 responses have flooded in for two classes with a total of ~75 students.
The rate is much lower than when I used to do these on paper, in person.
I have announced the online evals on Canvas, in class, (even with a very clever Bernie Sanders-themed slide, if I do say so myself), and I’ve encouraged the students to do them in class during break.
So, is this a common experience? Has the shift to online evaluations reduced response rates significantly?
Does there need to be a rethink?
Or is it just me?
Best,
Eugene
_______________________________________________________
Eugene McCann (he/him/his)
Professor, Geography
Associate Faculty, Sociology & Anthropology
Simon Fraser University
Managing Editor, EPC: Politics & Space
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/epc
Minor Revisions podcast
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Personal website: https://emccanngeog.wordpress.com
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Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University,
8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Email: emccann@sfu.ca; Phone: 778-782-3321