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[luckychance]

I'm in my first semester at a new academic institution. We just got the evaluation forms, which we are supposed to have students fill out this week. I'm shocked by how superficial they are. There are only 8 questions and they don't measure how good the professor is in the classroom. It's just questions like "The requirements for the class were clearly explained" and "assignments were related to the content material described in the syllabus." The students respond on a 3 point scale. I put so much time into making my classes productive and engaging and I show a lot of enthusiasm but there are no questions about these aspects of teaching. There are at least three reasons why I'm considering creating my own evaluations to add (see below). I'm wondering if you think I should create my own and if so, if you have any suggestions on how to do that.
1) Although I'm not planning to leave the school any time soon, I don't think I could use any of the information from these evaluations as "evidence of teaching effectiveness" if an advertisement requested that I send such information. At the very least, I think it would look unimpressive.
2) I don't think these evaluations will be useful in terms of any personal assessment I do for myself.
3) I'm a bit concerned about the fact that the first question addresses how often I cancelled class. I developed a medical problem this semester and canceled class once and there were a few times I let the class out a bit early. The time I canceled class was when I was starting a new medication and I was feeling lightheaded and drowsy. But I also a few times ran out of time and energy to prepare a full class and let them out early (which I'm hoping students don't interpret as "canceling class." The response options require the student to indicate the number of cancelled minutes, and hopefully the students won't add up all the minutes they were let out early. I do put a lot of effort into making my classes productive and engaging and got high evaluations on questions assessing those aspects of my teaching at my previous institution. So I figured if I add questions about that and got good responses, it might cancel out anything negative about the "canceling class" issue.

Thanks for your feedback.

[neutralname]

I don't understand how you would add questions?  How will the evaluation process be kept confidential?  How would you give this additional student feedback to future employers? 

Any prospective teacher who supplied additional student answers to their own questions would seem kooky to me as a chair looking at applications. 

[luckychance]

I don't understand how you would add questions?  How will the evaluation process be kept confidential?  How would you give this additional student feedback to future employers? 

Any prospective teacher who supplied additional student answers to their own questions would seem kooky to me as a chair looking at applications. 

I'd just hand out a sheet with a few questions on it, leave the room, and have a student return them to one of our faculty assistants. I'd explain that the faculty assistant has agreed to hold onto them until grades are submitted.

[winstonsmith]

I do this. I make up my own questions and staple it to the standard form the university requires. My questions ask about the what the students have learned, what they think they should have learned, and how I can improve the class (what readings were effective, etc.). I think it's much more informative than the ridiculous questions the standard form contains, like "would you recommend this course or professor to your friends?"

[imawakenow]

1) Although I'm not planning to leave the school any time soon, I don't think I could use any of the information from these evaluations as "evidence of teaching effectiveness" if an advertisement requested that I send such information. At the very least, I think it would look unimpressive.

Evidence of teaching effectiveness can be demonstrated in a number of ways, including syllabi, course materials, peer evaluations, teaching awards, etc.

When/if you go on the job market, you can send the course evaluation summaries and note that there were three response items.

2) I don't think these evaluations will be useful in terms of any personal assessment I do for myself.

Two suggestions here: First, have someone you trust in your department come and evaluate your teaching. (Or many campuses have an assessment office that will come and evaluate your teaching.) Second, do a mid-semester evaluation with your own questions. You can have students provide typed responses to open-ended questions (assuming that you give them the questions in advance).

When I've done this, I've found it to be much more valuable as it allows me to make adjustments (or reset expectations) during the semester itself.

3) I'm a bit concerned about the fact that the first question addresses how often I cancelled class. I developed a medical problem this semester and canceled class once and there were a few times I let the class out a bit early...

I wouldn't worry about one question nor would I worry about one semester in which you had a health problem. When I evaluate candidates on a SC, I look for themes across semesters.

The response options require the student to indicate the number of cancelled minutes, and hopefully the students won't add up all the minutes they were let out early. I do put a lot of effort into making my classes productive and engaging and got high evaluations on questions assessing those aspects of my teaching at my previous institution. So I figured if I add questions about that and got good responses, it might cancel out anything negative about the "canceling class" issue.

It seems like you had a tough semester, but you also seem really defensive. Have you gotten other feedback (directly or implicitly) that you are already under the microscope?

If students comment, I suggest writing something in your self-evaluation (if you have one) about the medical issue if students comment on how early you let them out of class.

I wouldn't add any other questions, unless the form specifically allows you to add them.

[luckychance]

It seems like you had a tough semester, but you also seem really defensive. Have you gotten other feedback (directly or implicitly) that you are already under the microscope?

No, not at all. All the feedback I've gotten has been extremely positive from my dept. chair, dean, and even the college president. I'm coming off a bad experience at my previous institution, though. It was really a bad fit but I still at times am defensive.

I do this. I make up my own questions and staple it to the standard form the university requires. My questions ask about the what the students have learned, what they think they should have learned, and how I can improve the class (what readings were effective, etc.). I think it's much more informative than the ridiculous questions the standard form contains, like "would you recommend this course or professor to your friends?"

Do you just ask for written feedback or do you also create a numerical rating scale for any of your questions?

[lohai0]

On the back of our form, I ask student to answer these two questions instead of the tripe ones:

1. What will you remember about this course?

2. What would you tell someone who is going to take this class from this instructor next semester?

[imawakenow]

It seems like you had a tough semester, but you also seem really defensive. Have you gotten other feedback (directly or implicitly) that you are already under the microscope?

No, not at all. All the feedback I've gotten has been extremely positive from my dept. chair, dean, and even the college president. I'm coming off a bad experience at my previous institution, though. It was really a bad fit but I still at times am defensive.

Makes sense. I wouldn't worry about one question or even one tough semester, especially if the other feedback you are receiving is positive.

Do you just ask for written feedback or do you also create a numerical rating scale for any of your questions?

I have both. I have some statements about the pace of the course, clarity of assignments, expectations, etc. I also have a couple of open-ended questions like, "What activity or activities has/have been most helpful in learning the material?" "If there is one thing you could change about the course, what would it be?" Then a generic "Any additional comments?"

I'm mostly interested in big picture items and whether expectations for the course are clear.

Also, you might want to check with your department chair about adding items to the official course evaluation. At my grad institution, we were allowed to add questions, so I always added questions to the final evaluation.

Where I am now, I was told that I could do whatever I wanted to do in the middle of the semester, but that we were not allowed to add any questions or direct students in any way on the official evaluations. (Of course, this was after the fact. Whatever.)

[glowdart]

Maybe I'm just weird, but I see those questions in your OP and think:  "Yes!  That's not a customer satisfaction survey!  I would LOVE to have, as colleagues, the people who created that form!"

So... having said that...

I'd talk to a colleague and figure out how to do that in a way that won't gum up your current system.  (If we stapled a supplemental sheet to the bubble form, for example, then we'd piss off the people who run the forms through the machine, likely never see those sheets again, and possibly invalidate the bubble sheets or cause them to jam the system with tears or missed staples.  We also need to warn the office that's collecting the evals that we're doing supplementals and put them in a campus mail envelope with a big note that says "do not send through the mail until Dec XX - day after grades are due.)  So, I'd ask around about the process that your new place uses.   

When I do these, I usually give them a scale to rank the readings that I was curious about reusing or cutting, and then ask some open-ended questions.  But, our students don't write much unless you expressly ask them to do so.  And even then they don't write much. 

imawakenow's point about the possibility of adding questions reminded me that one place also let us choose from a selection of forms.  There was the default form, but if you asked, then they'd show you the other options. 

And, I totally agree with imawakenow about not worrying about the one question or the one tough semester.  It is hard to move from a place where you feel on edge all the time.  Congrats on the new job! 

[winstonsmith]

@OP: I only do written feedback. I'm in history and dislike statistics: "Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that." (to quote Homer Simpson...)

I think lohai0's questions are great.

[helpful]

Do your own course evaluation at another class. There is nothing as confusing to a student as doing two evaulations which have different purposes and different formats in the same class time.

[systeme_d_]

You need to talk to your department chair about this.

In some departments, it is the norm to add additional questions to the basic form.  There may even be additional questions you MUST add if your course fulfills certain university requirements.

What you want to do is make sure that your evaluation forms are consistent from year to year, and that your student evaluations show improvement over time.   In other words, look at the expectations for the tenure dossier.  Find out whether your additional evaluation questions would have to be included in your T&P dossier.  Make your decision about designing course evaluations in light of these expectations.  

Also, don't try to compensate for your single class cancellation.  No marginally literate student will interpret "leaving early" as "cancelling class."

[needmorecoffee]

This is actually quite easy to do. I created a mid-semester survey in blackboard using the 'create survey' function and administered it to students, requiring each of them to complete it as part of their participation grade. I wrote the questions to fit with the structure of my course and used leikert answers (strongly agree, agree, etc.).  The answer data for each question could be summarized with percentages, so I could tell how many students strongly agreed or agreed, etc. with each question (does the instructor adequately connect lectures to course readings and other material?).  These were things I was trying to work on, so I asked questions that would help me see the extent to which students seemed to be responding to changes I had made in the course. 

My survey is far more detailed than the university administered end of term evaluation.  One could easily ask students to do something like this, making clear it is purely for the instructors use and in order to glean data not asked for by the University evaluations.  One could then save these surveys and include them as part of a T&P packet as evidence that the instructor is seeking additional feedback on teaching.