Course Evaluations & Student Feedback
Midterm Evaluations
Halfway during the teaching period, lecturers are requested to conduct evaluations of their courses with their students. The value of this informal midterm evaluation is that it facilitates discussion between the class and the teacher, providing both with a moment to ‘check in’ with each other.
AUC suggests lecturers to conduct the midterm evaluation through a combination of in-class discussion and an evaluation form that can be completed by students anonymously.
Class discussions
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Class representative discussion - common for 16-week courses:
Each class will appoint two student representatives to lead a 15-minute discussion on the strengths and areas for improvement of the course. After the discussion, the representatives can meet with the lecturer to share the main points raised by the class. The Class Representative Guidelines and Steps document outlines the process and timeline in more detail. The timeline is flexible and can be adjusted to fit your course schedule. - Lecturer-led conversation - recommended for 4-week period:
Lecturers organise a conversation with students on topics relevant to their course, to obtain insight into how students have experienced the course thus far.
Midterm Evaluation Forms
These will be distributed digitally or in hard copy to collect feedback. By giving you the opportunity to complete the form individually and anonymously, additional opportunities are created for all students to provide feedback, including those who may not feel comfortable sharing their views in the classroom.
Lecturers and course coordinators may choose the midterm course evaluation format that best suits their course, provided that it enables students to give feedback.
Resources
Final Course Evaluations
Towards the end of each period (16-week and 4-week), an online questionnaire asking for (anonymous) feedback on the course, is made available via a QR code in one of the final classes. Questions are related to the design of the course, the teaching methods, how much you have learned, the assessment and the knowledge and skills of the lecturer. Most questions can be answered on a 1-5 scale, with a few open questions to make suggestions for the lecturer or to share experiences.
Once the online evaluations are closed, you and your lecturer(s) will be able to see the course evaluation results within Evalytics, the student feedback system. Lecturers will see answers to the general course questions, and teacher-related questions (specific to the lecturer only). Students will see a summary of quantitative results of the general course questions (numerical scores only, no comments). Your survey answers are anonymous. The lecturer, staff or students can't see who provided which answer.
What happens next?
By completing the survey, you give lecturers a starting point for improving their course and teaching, if needed. In this way, you're contributing to the quality assurance of your study programme. Your feedback mainly serves to improve the quality of education for future students, just as students in previous years have done for you.
After the course, lecturers reflect on your feedback and discuss their teaching and course design with one or more colleagues. They use these reflections to decide what could be improved and, where relevant, discuss changes with the Head of Studies.
For further quality assurance discussions, the course evaluations are also shared with the course coordinator, the Board of Studies, and the Head of Studies.