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May 19, 2006 > News > Online course evaluton response rates dip slightly

Online course evaluton response rates dip slightly

By Risa Gordon | Thresher Editorial Staff

In the first semester in which end-of-semester course evaluations were only available online, the response rate dropped slightly. The response rate for course evaluations was 48 percent, and the response rate for instructor evaluations was about 45 percent, Enrollment Administration Director Diane Havlinek said.

In past years, when course evaluations were handed out on the last day of classes, rates were between 50 and 60 percent, Havlinek said.

Students submitted a total of 8,526 course evaluations and 8,973 instructor evaluations online using ESTHER — the number of instructor evaluations is higher because sometimes multiple instructors teach the same class. Responses for music and architecture classes were lower than other classes, as they have been in the past.

Havlinek said about $6,000 was spent on the 95 gift cards and 10 iPods raffled off as incentives for students to complete evaluations. She said she thinks the incentives worked and that they will likely be used again.

Havlinek said her e-mail reminders to students were also effective. On days when students received messages reminding them to fill out course evaluations, the number of submitted evaluations increased by 6-7 percent.

The evaluations will be available to faculty by the middle of the summer. In previous years, they have not been available until the beginning of the following semester.

Several aspects of the online course evaluations may change in the future. Havlinek said she will consider allowing students to complete them up until the end of final examinations. It has been Rice’s policy to take course evaluations before students receive their grades so they do not influence the evaluations.

Also, Havlinek said she will better communicate to students that the evaluations are anonymous.

The Student Association also launched an online course evaluation site on its Web site this semester. About 950 evaluations had been submitted as of Wednesday.

SA President Althea Tupper, a Hanszen College junior, said the response was a good start for the first-year program. She said the SA encourages students to fill out both its evaluations and those on ESTHER.

Tupper said the SA evaluations help students choose classes because, unlike the evaluations completed on ESTHER, students can view their peers’ responses. She said the evaluations will be especially beneficial to freshmen when they register for classes during Orientation Week.

“This just gives students one more source to check so they can be sure the courses they take are the right ones [for them] or the teacher is suited for them,” Tupper said.

Tupper said most evaluations have given relevant information about courses, commenting on the quality of instructors and coursework. She said she has not heard that any evaluations have had to be removed for inappropriate content.

Havlinek said she has not heard of students forgoing the ESTHER evaluations because they filled out course evaluations on the SA’s Web site instead.

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