ONLINE COURSE EVALUATIONS
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is the university exploring online course evaluations?
 In an effort to improve teaching and learning. Faculty will receive results much quicker than with paper
evaluations, so it will be possible to reflect and make improvements while courses are still fresh on faculty
members’ minds.
 In addition, research shows that faculty receive more and better written comments with online evaluations.
 Additionally, online evaluations provide a standardized, digital data set on courses across all divisions that can be
merged with other internal data sources for purpose of institutional research (i.e., to examine questions such as
“Are course evaluations generally lower in large sections?”). Faculty will also be able to download their own course
evaluation data for similar purposes.
 Online course evaluations are also more environmentally responsible, and they are cheaper than paper evaluations.
The University of Oregon, for example, estimates an annual savings of roughly $200,000 from moving to online
course evaluations; in addition to the cost of the paper, paper evaluations require considerable staff time and
handling by both departmental and IT personnel.
2. What will happen to response rates?
 It is possible that response rates will fall with digital evaluations. Keep in mind that response rates for paper
evaluations are below 100% due to absences, incomplete forms, etc. To a large degree, the digital response rate
depends upon how seriously you and your students treat the course evaluation process.
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What can you do to encourage a high response rate?
 First, talk with your students about the value and importance of teaching evaluations; research shows that
this may be the most effective way to promote high response rates.
 Faculty also have the option of having students bring laptops into class to complete the course evaluation.
This way, the response rate will actually be higher than with paper, since students who miss class will
have the opportunity to complete the evaluation at another time.
 In addition, since all courses will be evaluated electronically (which is not the case with paper), the
campus-wide response rate will grow relative to paper.
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What are the long-term plans to encourage response rates?
 This fall, a student-targeted communications campaign will emphasize the value and importance of
course evaluations.
 In addition, students will receive multiple e-mail reminders and material incentives such as a chance to
win access to a suite for a Miami hockey game.
 In the long run, other incentives can be adopted, such as earlier access to grades for students who
complete all of their course evaluations.
Finally, remember that even if response rates do fall, research shows that the number and quality of written
comments may rise with digital evaluations.
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3. Can individual faculty members opt out?
 In the fall of 2011, yes, faculty members in pilot departments will be able to opt out after consulting with their
department chair.
 In the long run, all course evaluations must include six common university questions, and no new paper forms will
be printed with these questions. Since MUPIM requires all courses to be evaluated every semester, eventually, all
faculty will move to online evaluations.
4. Why did we choose a vendor rather than an in-house solution?
 The platform selected, CollegeNet’s What Do You Think (WDYT) was developed at Stanford, and is currently used
at (among other schools) Stanford, Princeton and Oregon.
 In the long run, it is quite possible that online course evaluations will be administered through the Sakai open
source platform. However, the current Sakai evaluation system was not ranked as highly as WDYT; in addition,
Miami’s IT has its hands full in the short run with the transition to Niihka.
 CollegeNet has made a one-time exception by allowing Miami to pilot (rather than purchase) the software this fall.
They’ve agreed to this because of their confidence that the pilot experience will be so positive that ultimately we
will purchase the platform. Clearly, they have every incentive to execute a successful pilot this fall.
 Finally, the CollegeNet platform may be cheaper, all things considered, than supporting in house course
evaluations.
5. Are the data secure and individual responses anonymous?
Yes to both questions. Miami’s IT has carefully scrutinized and signed off on CollegeNet’s security and confidentiality
policies.
6. How many departments will participate in the pilot?
It is expected that two departments from each division will participate in the fall 2011 pilot.
7. Will there be online evaluations in the spring of 2012?
After the successful fall pilot, additional departments will be invited to move evaluations online in the spring of 2012. In
steps, new departments would continue to go online next summer and fall with an expectation of universal campus
adoption by spring of 2013.
8. When do faculty receive the results of online course evaluations?
Faculty should have evaluation results within 24 hours after grades are due.
9. Can faculty members create their own questions?
 Eventually, yes, but not during the fall 2011 pilot. For the fall pilot, we will use CollegeNet’s What Do You Think
platform right out of the box.
 If we adopt the platform, significant customization to our unique needs will be possible, including instructor
questions.
10. Do online evaluations lead to “group think” rather than capturing individual perceptions?
We’ve found nothing in the literature to suggest that “informational cascades” (whereby, outside of class, students view
and then respond in a similar fashion to others’ evaluation of the course) occur with online evaluations. While rare and
unusual events that can bias course evaluations are possible with both in-class and digital evaluations, problems of this
type might actually be more likely in a classroom environment.
11. When will the evaluations be available to students, and how will they be notified?
 For full term courses, the evaluation period will begin the Sunday night before the last week of class, and end at
5pm on the Friday of finals week.
 The evaluation period for partial term courses will essentially be the last week of classes, plus two days.
 Students will see the courses they need to evaluate on the MU portal (i.e., MyMiami); in addition, students will
receive an e-mail invitation and a series of reminders during the evaluation period.
 More importantly, faculty are encouraged to provide regular reminders to students, both in class and via e-mail,
about the importance of the evaluation process. Faculty will be able to see aggregate, real time response rates for
the evaluations.