STUDENTS
Executive Summary
1. Reasons why students use outside evaluation sources.
2. Reasons why students do not use official Baruch student evaluations?
3. The most often mentioned recommendations for improving the current student evaluations.
1.
Why do Baruch students use outside evaluation sources?




2.
Why students do not use official Baruch student evaluations?





3.
The vast majority of the student population is unaware of how to gain access to the student
evaluation results.
Current website is poorly organized and difficult to navigate.
Current evaluations do not connect well with the students; the questions only seem to address
administrative purposes.
Students consider the Baruch student evaluation “to be a waste of time” because there are no major
consequences for receiving poor ratings, thus most students assign random ratings to simply
complete the form; they believe that the evaluations are not taken seriously by the college.
Most students are unaware of the resource.
Written comments are more useful than numerical data.
The current scale/format of the evaluation seems flawed to students since most professors receive
similar ratings.
Students do not feel the evaluations have a clear or important purpose, thus do not complete the
form seriously.
The information provided is not necessarily what the students are interested in.
Most often mentioned recommendations for improving the current student evaluations.
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Students
 Written comments are a lot more insightful to students than numerical data; students should be
allowed to leave some feedback, which can be accessed by other students.
 Revise the current questions.
o Would you recommend the course/instructor to a friend?
o Is the Instructor fair?
o How does the course load compare to other courses?
o What is the instructor’s primary teaching style?
 Evaluations should be regularly updated and available at the time of registration.
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Instructors
 Improving the written comment section by including specific questions
o Such a change will guide students towards writing more meaningful feedback.
Specific examples were not provided
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Dept. Chairs and Admins
 Written comments should be available to the chairs and administrators.
 Comments will allow students to voice their opinions.
 Comments allow students to point out specific strengths and weaknesses of an instructor
 Adopt and publicize a consistent use for the evaluations; students believe that the college
administration does not take the evaluations seriously.
FULL-TIME TENURED
Executive Summary
1. The most often mentioned recommendations for improving the current student evaluations.
2. Opinions about administering the evaluations online with a possible reward system.
3. Opinions about increasing the visibility of the numerical results and the written comments
section.
1.
Most often mentioned recommendations for improving the current student evaluations.
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Students
 Revise the current questions.
o Evaluations need to connect better with the students.
 Did the instructor provide sufficient feedback?
 Would you take another course taught by the same instructor?
 Were you satisfied with what you learned in the course, regardless of your grade?
 The course material was covered and clear learning goals were established and
emphasized throughout the term.
 The textbook and instruction contributed to the overall learning goals?
 Evaluate the fairness of the instructor/assignments vs. inherent difficulty of the material.
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Instructors
 Improve the written comment section by including specific questions.
 Did the assignments/essays, readings help you understand the subject better, if not
what changes would you suggest?
 If any, what changes to the style of instruction will you prefer?
 Revise the current questions; they are not specific enough for the purpose of gaining feedback.
o Ask questions directed towards the instructor and the coursework.
 Do you think the course is intellectually challenging and exciting?
 Are you satisfied with what you have learned?
 Use of a Mid-Term Evaluation, optional and seen only by the instructors.
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Colleagues, Chairs, Admins
 Improving the format and scale will make the evaluations more reliable for
administrative purposes.
 Revise the current questions.
o Questions need to evaluate the instructors’ quality of teaching and the course work.
 No specific examples provided
2.


3.



Administering the evaluations online with a possible reward system
48% of the full-time tenured faculty supports the transition online.
o Appropriate reward needs to be discussed.
44% of the full-time tenured faculty opposes the transition online.
Increasing the visibility of the numerical results and the written comments section.
55% of the full-time tenured faculty opposes the right to block access to results.
67% of the responses indicate that even though communication skills are important,
other areas should also be included.
Greater than 41% of the full-time faculty strongly opposes the idea of making the written
comments available to Chairs, Administrators and Students.
FULL-TIME UNTENURED
Executive Summary
1. The most often mentioned recommendations for improving the current student evaluations.
2. Opinions about administering the evaluations online with a possible reward system.
3. Opinions about increasing the visibility of the numerical results and the written comments
section.
1. Most often mentioned recommendations for improving the current student evaluations.
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Students
 Revise the current questions.
o Evaluations need to specific areas which the students are interested in.
 Was the instructor fair in grading student work?
 Was the level of difficulty appropriate?
 Would you recommend the course to a friend?
 Improve the format of the results, and increase the availability.
 Include an overall summary of the various ratings averaged as a single number
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Instructors
 Improve the written comment section by including specific questions.
o Please provide specific examples where you felt the course was lacking or could be taught
differently?
o Did the assignments/essays, readings help you understand the subject better, if not what
changes would you suggest? What did you find particularly helpful?
 Revise the current questions.
o The questions need to be more specific about the coursework and the instructor’s quality of
teaching.
 Do you believe the course was intellectually challenging and exciting?
 Are you satisfied with what you have learned?
 Timely process and return the evaluation results.
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Colleagues, Chairs, Admins
 Revise the current questions.
o The current evaluation form does not effectively measure the instructional quality.
 Explain the statistics, and compare them with other mean and median ratings.
 Written comments should be available to department chairs for teaching development efforts.
2.
Administering the evaluations online with a possible reward system

3.
58% of the full-time untenured faculty supports the transition online.
o Appropriate reward needs to be discussed.
Increasing the visibility of the numerical results and the written comments section.



46% of the full-time untenured faculty supports the right to block access to results.
62% of the responses indicate that even though communication skills are important, other
areas should also be included.
57% of the full-time untenured faculty supports the department chairs’ access to written
comments; strongly opposed opinions were considerably lower in general .
PART-TIME FACULTY
Executive Summary
1. The most often mentioned recommendations for improving the current student evaluations.
2. Opinions about administering the evaluations online with a possible reward system.
3. Opinions about increasing the visibility of the numerical results and the written comments
section.
1. Most often mentioned recommendations for improving the current student evaluations.
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Students
 Revise the current questions.
o Evaluations need to provide more details about the course.
 Were you satisfied with what you learned in the course, regardless of your grade?
 Openly ask students, if they learned something new from the course, and how much
did they benefit from it?
 Explain the statistical data, (mean, average rating, median etc.)
 Ask students to rate the entire course on a scale
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Instructors
 Improve the written comment section by including specific questions.
o Were you satisfied with what you learned, and do you think you have gained valuable skills
from the instruction, if not please suggest additions.
o Is there something that the instructor can do differently to improve the course?
o Please provide examples of particular incidences where you felt the course was lacking or
may be taught differently.
 Revise the current questions.
o Include questions which will help instructors gain better feedback.
 Timely process and return the evaluation results.
Recommendations for making evaluations more useful to Colleagues, Chairs, Admins
 Examine the student grades with evaluations; several instructors dilute grades to gain a favorable
evaluation.
o There might be a correlation between student grades and evaluations.
 Revise the current questions.
o Current questions do not provide enough details about why the instructor is excelling
or failing.
 Generate a greater student interest and a higher level of participation.
2.

3.



Administering the evaluations online with a possible reward system
61% of the full-time untenured faculty supports the transition online.
o Appropriate reward needs to be discussed.
Increasing the visibility of the numerical results and the written comments section.
45% of the part-time adjunct faculty supports the right of blocking access to results.
69% of the responses indicate that even though communication skills are important , other
areas should also be included.
57% of the part-time adjunct faculty supports the department chairs’ access to written
comments; it generally supports a greater visibility of written comments, however student
access to comments is opposed.