Student Surveys for Faculty Evaluations
Student Surveys for Faculty Evaluations
As part of the faculty evaluation process, student evaluations of the instructor will need to be collected, and evaluators may need access to the instructors Canvas shell. The majority of student evaluations are now delivered using an online survey tool called EvaluationKit (E-Kit for short). It is important that instructors understand the process, actively encourage students to complete the evaluations and work with the evaluation committee to provide proper access to their Canvas courses.
Deans will start the process by providing a list of courses to be evaluated to the Instructional Tech who will enter them into the E-Kit system. Once the survey starts, students can access the survey online and instructors will receive periodic updates on the progress of the survey.
Basic Outline of the Evaluation Process
1. Instructors may need to give an evaluator access to their Canvas courses.
2. Midway through the semester, classes will receive an email that lists the sections that have an E-Kit survey setup.
3. On the first day of the survey, students will receive an email with a link to the survey.
4. Students accessing Canvas courses will see a pop-up reminder to take the survey until they have completed it.
5. Instructors should send out an announcement and encourage students to complete the survey and explain the importance of the evaluation.
6. After the first few days of the evaluation they will receive an update on the student response rates.
7. After the first week students who have not completed the evaluation will receive a reminder email.
8. During the second week instructors will receive another update on student response rates and should encourage students who have not yet completed the evaluation to do so.
9. When the student evaluation is complete the evaluation teams will receive the results and will use them in the faculty evaluation process.
Process Regarding Adding an Evaluator
Instructors can grant or revoke access to a Canvas course using the instructions in the Adding Evaluators document.
Evaluators should be added to the class using the “Evaluator” Role. The advantage of adding someone as an “Evaluator” is that they can review all the student interactions but will be unable to edit any course content. It is important to let evaluators know that they will begin receiving course notification as soon as they accept the invitation to the course. Evaluators should wait until they are ready to begin the evaluation before accepting the invitation.
Midway through the semester, Instructors being evaluated with E-Kit will receive an email listing the courses that are to be evaluated and when the survey will start. It is important that the list is checked to make sure the courses listed are correct.
Student Involvement
On the first day of the survey students will receive an email with a link to the survey and information about how to access it (see below). They can also access the survey by logging into Canvas and entering the course where a popup window will link them to the survey. In addition, for students that have not yet taken the survey a navigation link will be available in the course navigation that will take them directly to the survey. For a detailed view of what students will see during this process please see the Student E-Kit Information Document.
The most important factor in getting students to participate in the evaluation is instructor involvement. Discussing the process and encouraging students to participate and leave feedback will increase response rates dramatically. The target return rate is 60%. If an E-Kit survey has a response rate below 60%, the instructor, evaluation team and Dean will decide what alternatives may be necessary.
For questions about the evaluation process please contact your Dean or evaluation committee chair. For technical issues, you can contact Distance Education by submitting a help ticket at https://help.redwoods.edu/support/home, addressing the ticket to Canvas/Online Learning.
Sample Email
On the start date of the survey the students will receive an email with a direct link to the survey (you can see the full survey content In the F-3A document):
Student Survey Invitation and Announcement Email (sent the day the survey starts)
Dear [UserFullName],
You are requested to fill out a short instructor evaluation for one or more of your courses this semester. This email contains the link to your evaluation. Click on Go To Evaluation below to complete it.
At any time before the Evaluation ends, you can log in to canvas, access your course and complete it. Additionally, until you have completed the evaluation, Canvas will continue to remind you about your evaluation and provide you a direct link to complete it.
Your feedback on the courses you experience here at College of the Redwoods is very important to us. These evaluations are an important part of our faculty review process so please take the time to answer all the questions thoughtfully.
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