Student Evaluation of Instruction | Waubonsee Community College

Goals

Faculty receive timely, meaningful feedback from students to improve teaching and learning.
Faculty Development and Engagement utilizes the aggregated data from the common questions to provide timely, relevant faculty development programming based on Association of College and University Educators (ACUE’s) Effective Practice Framework Core Competencies.
ACUE’s framework was designed to address core teaching competencies regardless of discipline and/or delivery mode.

Common Questions

Were developed by a Faculty Excellence Team (FET) subcommittee, established June 2021, to evaluate previous instruments and processes related to Student Evaluation of Instruction.
Final questions were vetted by FET and The Outcomes Advisory Council (OAC) faculty.
Alignment to ACUE's Effective Practice Framework is indicated in parenthesis after each question.
Questions 1-12 provide students the opportunity to explain their response in an open text box.

1. The instructor made it clear how the assignments, activities, and assessments related to the main learning concepts (in other words, course learning outcomes or goals). (1a, 1b, and 1c)

2. The syllabus was well organized and easy to understand which helped me succeed in this course. (1d)

3. The instructor clearly communicated course expectations (for example, verbally in-person, by email, through reviewing the syllabus, in a welcome video, etc.). (2a)

4. The instructor promoted a safe learning environment. (2b and 2g)

5. The instructor valued student contributions. (3c)

6. This course included a variety of teaching techniques to help me learn (for example, interactive lectures, partner and/or small group work, demonstrations, self-graded activities, student presentations, discussions or discussion boards with feedback, etc.). (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, and 3e)

7. The instructor provided me with learning/studying tools and techniques to help me learn. (4b, 4c, 4d, and 4e)

8. The instructor provided me with specific, timely, and useful feedback to improve my learning. (5c and 5d)

9. I worked to the best of my abilities in this course. (Student Reflection 1)

10. I made use of available opportunities for assistance. (Student Reflection 2)

11. My knowledge of the subject matter increased in this course. (Student Reflection 3)

12. Interactions with other students (for example, group discussions or discussion boards, debates, group projects, asking questions and getting answers through the group rather than directly from the instructor, etc.) contributed to my learning in this course.

13. What aspect(s) of this course did you find most helpful in enabling you to meet the main learning concepts (in other words, course learning outcomes or goals)?

14. What recommendation(s) do you have for improving this course?

Adding Additional Questions

Faculty can add up to 11 additional questions to the 14 common questions from a faculty-created question library and/or individual custom questions.

Questions can be organized in the the question library by department, discipline, program, modality, etc.
Faculty can develop the tags, to search for questions in the library.
The question library does not need to be built overnight, but rather can take shape over time. Faculty can continually add questions to meet their needs.

Library questions and custom questions can be added to evaluations up to the day prior to the survey launch date. For instructions on how to add questions to your survey or add to the question library, see the "Additional Resources" section of this web page.

Creating Unbiased Questions

A major goal of the Student Evaluation Sub-Committee (SESC) was to create unbiased common questions that all faculty could benefit from.

We encourage you to include your own questions in your survey. Prior to adding your questions, we ask that you review this document to ensure you are asking unbiased questions.

Faculty put this together for you to provide good and bad examples of questions for clarity.

Overview of the Process

Student evaluations are administered electronically through a system called AEFIS (Assessment, Evaluation, Feedback & Intervention System).

Faculty will receive an email reminder message from Waubonsee AEFIS along with instructions a week prior to the survey launch date.
Faculty can add custom questions up to the launch date.
Students complete surveys by visiting wcc.aefis.net
Students will receive email notices from Waubonsee AEFIS.
Students can access wcc.aefis.net in their Canvas course shell by selecting “Course Evaluation” on the Course Navigation Menu on the left side of the course shell.
To increase participation for all classes, it is recommended that faculty post a message in the Canvas course shell for all classes with the dates the survey is available.
To increase participation for Face-to-Face, Hybrid and Sync Online courses, it is recommended that you designate time in class for students to complete evaluations. Instructors should leave the room to ensure students feel free to provide authentic feedback.
Faculty will be able to access survey results by visiting wcc.aefis.net the day after grades are posted.

Best Practices:

Post a note in your Canvas Shell: Students will have one week to three weeks to answer evaluation questions depending on course term (4-week, 8-week or 16-week). Review survey launch dates and send your students a message in Canvas during that time to encourage them to complete their evaluations of instruction.

Recommended Strategies to Increase Student Completion

Designate time in class for student to complete evaluations.
Tell your students that you value their honest and constructive feedback.
Let your students know that you are interested in both positive and negative feedback.
Describe the kind of feedback you find most useful.
Remind students that evaluations are designed to be completely anonymous and that you will not be able to see any of their evaluations until after final grades have been submitted.
Let students know that you are the primary audience for their feedback.
Consider including language in your syllabus that addresses student evaluations.

Vanderbilt University (n.d.) Course and Teaching Evaluations. Retrieved from: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/course-teaching-evaluations/faculty.php

Aggregate Student Evaluation of Instruction Results

Fall 2023

Spring 2024

Summer 2024

Results FY2023

Results FY2022

Results FY2021

Additional Resources

Overview of the Survey Tool in AEFIS (New this fall-students and faculty will be able to connect to wcc.aefis.net though Canvas by selecting the Course Evaluation icon on the course navigation menu)

Add Custom Questions or Tagged Questions to your Evaluation

Submit Questions for the Question Library (Form)

Course Evaluation Launch Dates

(Please Note: Custom and tagged questions can be added up to the day prior to the evaluation launch date)

Adult Education Survey Questions

How-to Guides

Overview of Surveys in AEFIS and How to Add Additional Survey Questions