Students Asked to Provide Course Feedback Via Online, Anonymous Surveys
April 16, 2014
From April 16-30, Old Dominion University students are being asked to complete online course surveys to provide anonymous feedback about their instructors, course content and overall classroom experience during the semester.
The survey questions give students the opportunity to offer suggestions about their classes, including likes, dislikes and ideas for improvement. Each course survey typically takes three to five minutes to complete, and the online system makes the process convenient, efficient and environmentally friendly.
Survey results are not available until after finals are over and all grades have been posted. At that time, survey results can be viewed by university administrators and faculty members. The information gathered is used as part of the process to improve instruction at the university. Information Technology Services (ITS) administers the survey system and does the reporting to deans, faculty and administrators, who in turn use that information for many purposes across campus.
Student feedback is vital to the content and delivery of courses at ODU. Student opinion survey results are used by faculty to improve teaching, and are a component in the promotion and tenure process. Instructors have been urged to encourage completion of the surveys to increase the response rate, through such means as providing class time and offering extra credit for students completing the online surveys.
The Monarch Techstore is sponsoring a drawing to give away three iPad minis. Students will automatically be entered in the drawing once per course for each survey completed.
Surveys can be completed online at www.odu.edu/coursesurvey or by smartphones/tablets using the ODUMobile App. In addition, surveys are accessible through Blackboard and myODU.
The recently released Online Tracking Tool also allows faculty and deans to monitor response rates while the surveys are live. No survey data are associated with the tracking tool, but it provides a live snapshot of participation rates. It can be found here: http://www.odu.edu/facultystaff/assessreport/sos.