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5听Student Ratings of Course Content questions

1. Course materials reflected a variety of diverse perspectives on the course topic(s).

2. The instructor(s) did not include materials that contained offensive or discriminatory ideas except to educate students about discrimination, oppression or educate about other existing perspectives.

3. Course materials were universally accessible.

4a. What are one or more specific things about the course content that helped create an inclusive learning environment?

4b. What are one or more specific things about the course content that could be improved to create a more inclusive learning environment?

Tips about Providing Constructive feedback

Be respectful.听Derogatory comments or criticisms based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. are not appropriate in course evaluations.

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• Confidentiality:听Your course evaluations are completely confidential, both the numerical results and written comments. No identifying information will ever be provided to your instructor.

• The results:听The complete results are听provided to the instructor, teaching assistants, and unit head (Chair, Director, or Dean). (Note: some aggregate results are disseminated to the 鲍鱼tv community including overall response rates and mean scores)

• The instructor cannot see the results until 2 weeks after the final grade submission date has passed for the term.

• Questions are asked on a 5 point scale, where

  • 1 = 鈥淪trongly Disagree", 2 = "Disagree", 3 = "Neutral", 4 = "Agree", and 5 = 鈥淪trongly Agree".
  • Student Ratings of Course Content听questions have 1 additional options: I don't know. You can choose "I don't know" if you do not know how to answer the question.听

• You can choose which questions to answer; comments are strongly welcomed and encouraged.

• While course and teaching quality are highly interdependent, the questions have been designed to explicitly address the course OR听the instructor. Please direct your feedback appropriately.

  • Departmental questions are only asked once when there are multiple instructors of the same department

1. Be respectful; derogatory comments or criticisms based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. are not appropriate.

2. Be specific and provide examples when commenting on the course or the instructor. Speak based on your own experiences, not on behalf of your classmates.

3. Focus on observable听behaviours听of the instructor or on specific aspects of the course. Describe the situation you are commenting on. For example:

   Instead of...	This is more helpful:
   "We were really able to listen in class."听 (This leaves the reader wondering what the instructor did to allow this.)	鈥淚t was great that the PowerPoint presentations were put online, that way you can follow in class and not have to worry about frantically take down notes and worry about not getting everything."

4. Avoid personal or emotional comments instead, describe actual incidents. For example:

   Instead of...	This is more helpful:
   "The instructor is a sarcastic loudmouth." (This is worded more as a personal attack, rather than constructive feedback.)	"The professor is sarcastic at times during lectures, which makes learning difficult and confusing."

5. Describe how the instructor鈥檚听behaviour听or elements of the course affect you.听听Describing how a situation makes you feel offers the reader a different perspective and allows the instructor to gain a better understanding of the situation.

   Instead of...	This is more helpful:
   "The exam was unfair." (This leaves the reader wondering about what aspect of the exam is unfair.)	鈥淚 found the questions on the midterm exam fair, but I found the length of the exam unfair. I knew all the material but really struggled to finish the exam in time. I felt very stressed by the time pressure and may not have performed my best.鈥�

6. Offer alternative solutions or suggestions to address your critiques of the instructor or the course, which helps the instructor when planning the course for the following year.听

   Example:
   鈥淭he instructor could make better use of the LMS to complement what happens in the classroom. In particular, it would help students鈥� engagement with the course if the instructor posted class materials, videos, and readings in the order of how they introduced that material in class."

7. To help instructors improve the course and their teaching,听please provide both positive and negative comments听in a constructive manner. Comments should offer specific reasons for judgment. These are very helpful as they inform the instructor of what you suggest be kept or changed.^[2]听While comments regarding what needs to change may come more readily, it is just as helpful to remind the instructor about what went well.

8. If your course had听Teaching Assistants, you will be given the opportunity to provide feedback听to them. Please take the time to provide constructive comments about strengths and areas for improvement. Feedback early in their teaching careers will be instrumental in helping them become great teachers.

9. Consider area of responsibility.听While the instructor clearly has influence and control over many of the factors that influence the quality of a course and the teaching, in many instances that influence is shared with the students and/or the administrators.听 By thinking about who is in a position to change problem areas鈥攐r maintain successful practices鈥攊t can help you frame your comments usefully. When possible, make suggestions from the student perspective as to actions that the instructor or administrators could take to help improve the situation. For instance:

   Instead of...	This is more helpful:
   "The projector in the rooms sucks.鈥� (This is outside the instructor鈥檚 control.)	鈥淭he fact that the projector in the room wasn鈥檛 showing the image properly had a significant impact on the students, and unfairly impacted the instructor鈥檚 ability to teach.鈥�

10. Comments about the personal traits (for example, accent or apparent unfriendliness) of the instructor often elicit strong emotions and should be made with sensitivity.听Focus your comments on behaviours that can be improved. Also, describe the impact on your learning鈥攖his will help the instructor improve the learning experience. For example:

    Instead of...	This is more helpful:
    "I couldn鈥檛 understand the professor.鈥� (This does not tell the instructor why understanding was difficult.)	鈥淭he professor had an accent that was difficult to understand, and it would be helpful if they slowed down when they spoke because speaking quickly made the accent even more difficult.鈥�

References

Ory, J. & Braskamp, L. (1981). Faculty perceptions of the quality of three types of evaluative information. Research in Higher Education, 15(3), p. 271-282.

Adapted from: Svinicki, M.D. (2001). Encouraging your students to give feedback. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 87, 17-24.

Donovan, J., Mader, C., & Shinsky, J. (2010). Constructive student feedback: Online vs. traditional course evaluations. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 9(3), p. 283-296.

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