As you review your evaluation report, you may wonder what it means for you and your course. First, the ratings are presented differently than in the past. You are shown response distributions, not means, because they give a better overall picture of your students’ responses.
Stanford’s course evaluations are designed to focus students’ attention away from instructor performance and toward their own learning. Therefore, their responses to the questions should reflect how much and how well they learned in your course. Here are some pages to help you interpret the responses.
Questions to think about as you reflect on your course evaluations
- Is my course attracting the students I expected? If not, what adjustments in course description, objectives, and/or materials should I consider?
- Are students attending the course regularly? Are students spending a reasonable amount of time on the course outside of class?
- Looking at the evaluations: What’s working well? What areas should I devote more attention to? Within those areas, what two or three specific adjustments might I consider? Are there more substantial issues I’d like to tackle in my course design and teaching methods?
- Looking at the distribution of scores within each category: Are the scores consistent, or are they widely distributed? Is there information in the written comments that can help make sense of the distribution of scores? Do the scores seem to vary by major, year of study, or other demographic variables?
- Does my own assessment of my teaching match that of my students’? If not, why not?
- Is there someone I’d like to talk to (a colleague, former student, TA, or a VPTL Associate Director) who can help provide some insight into these evaluations?
