Preparing for and Responding to Student Evaluations of Teaching

Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) are an important tool for calibrating instructional practices and reflecting on our successes and areas for improvement as instructors. Constructive feedback in these evaluations can help you identify elements of your course that are promoting or inhibiting students’ achievement of course learning outcomes. The following suggestions can help you prepare your students to provide productive, relevant feedback that you can act on.

Note that the SETs are administered by the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA), not by CTRL. Visit OIRA’s SET website for more detailed information about SET administration and reporting.

Explain the purpose and value of SETs to your students

Although they may have participated in the evaluation process in the past, many students do not understand the function of SETs. Explaining the significance and purpose of SETs will increase their salience for students.  Before asking students to complete the survey, explain to students what SETs are, what role they play in your professional career, what kind of feedback you are interested in receiving (e.g., specific and actionable), and how you will utilize it. Doing so will ensure that your students understand the purpose and significance of their responses and may lead to higher quality feedback.

There are a variety of ways to share information about SETs with students. You could include information about SETs, or the importance of feedback in general, in your syllabus so that students are aware of them from the start of the semester. When it comes time to complete the SETs, send a written announcement to students encouraging them to complete the SETs or letting them know that you will be providing time in class for their completion. If you administer the SETs during class (recommended, as described in the next section) take a few minutes to review the purpose and value of the SETs before students begin completing them.

You might also find it helpful to explain the different types of questions to students and what the data is used for. Emphasize that, while open-ended comments will only be read by their instructor, responses to the Likert-type (multiple choice) questions are viewed by both instructors and department heads. Explain that the open-ended comments are an opportunity for students to indicate elements of the course that they found helpful and suggest changes to elements of the course that are not working well.  Distinguish these from the Likert-type questions, which can play an important role in decisions relating to an instructor’s tenure, promotion, and reappointment. Students should also be made aware that SETs are official records of the university and should be treated as formal documents.

Regardless of when and how you discuss SETs with students, let students know that their feedback matters! You might provide examples of how you applied previous student feedback to improve the course for your current students.

Set aside class time for students to complete the SETs

A significant concern with SETs is that a low response rate will result in unrepresentative data. Just as with online reviews of businesses, those that had a negative experience may be most motivated to provide feedback. Ideally, offer students 10-15 minutes at the beginning of a synchronous class session during the final week of classes to complete the survey. By providing ample time for students to complete their evaluations without feeling rushed, you will improve the survey response rate and receive more comprehensive feedback. Research, as well as anecdotal evidence from students, demonstrates that providing time in class is the best way to improve response rates.

Consult this guide from the American University Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) for detailed instructions on administering SETs during class. Some important steps to keep in mind include:

• Adjust the timing of your SET survey to open aligning with the class session you have designated for survey completion and have your survey open for at least 3-4 days afterward for those who are absent.
• Let students know one or two classes in advance of the class session they will be completing the SET survey.
• Before students begin the survey, explain the purpose and value of SETs, and highlight how they are meaningful to you and your future teaching. See OIRA’s resource linked above or the examples in the previous section of this page for language. You might also provide students with guidance as to what makes feedback effective (e.g., specific, actionable) and awareness of potential biases.
• Be sure to depart the classroom while students are completing the survey.

 If you are teaching a course that does not meet synchronously (e.g., online, asynchronous), it is recommended to send an initial message through Canvas and at least one reminder to students to encourage their completion of the SETs. They will already receive reminder emails from the system administering the SETs, but personalized reminders from you as the instructor let them know that you value their feedback. It is also recommended to add a “Complete SET” item to the course schedule on your syllabus and course website.

Read and reflect on the SET results

Before reviewing your SET data, recognize that SETs are just one instrument you have access to for feedback on your teaching and they are prone to bias. However, SETs will still contain valuable information on your student’s experiences and should be read and considered thoroughly.

As you review the SET data, prioritize feedback that is actionable; often students share feedback on course modality or other aspects of the course that you cannot change. It is important to consider feedback that is (a) positive and helpful for the future and (b) negative and helpful for the future. Negative feedback that is not constructive or irrelevant to your teaching should be deprioritized. You may find it useful to “discard” the outliers – feedback that is either extraordinarily positive or negative – and focus on the feedback that resides in the middle, as it can be more representative of most students’ experiences and suggestions.

As you prepare to act on your students’ feedback, document how you have used the results to improve your course. These records can be helpful to share with future students, both to demonstrate how you have adjusted the course based on student feedback and to indicate that you value their feedback. It can also be helpful to share with your department head or chair, to show that you are attentive to student feedback and interested in continually improving your courses. When building out your teaching portfolio, you can demonstrate your growth over time by pointing to these instances of implementing student feedback and reflecting on the results of that change.

Discuss your results with colleagues and/or consult with CTRL

Schedule a consult with a Teaching & Learning Specialist on how to turn your SET results into action steps for future teaching. It can be tempting to compare your scores with those of your peers, but SETs alone are not an accurate measure of an instructor’s teaching ability. In fact, SETs are most beneficial when utilized for longitudinal instructor change and improvement. Research on evaluating teaching effectiveness recommends producing additional evidence, such as are typically included in teaching portfolios, rather than relying solely on student evaluations. For a more detailed overview of research on bias in SETs, consult our resource on Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching.