Student evaluations this semester will be cutting the incentives that were previously offered to students who completed them.
Kendra Johnson, academic evaluations coordinator, said she hopes this will not come as a negative change, but rather be a key in stressing the importance of giving feedback to professors.
“This year, we are not doing an incentive,” Johnson said. “We really want students to rally behind the idea that this is so important and feedback is so important.”
With constructive criticism coming from professors throughout the semester, Johnson said that students should take advantage of the opportunity to share their own ideas and responses back to them.
“Instructors are able to give feedback to students, so it’s just an opportunity for students to give feedback to their instructors,” Johnson said.
Camille Castro, sophomore English major, said she will be disappointed with the loss of course evaluation incentives on campus, but that it makes sense because the school offers students so much already.
“The perks are nice to have, but they have other events and stuff that they give away at school so there is plenty going on,” Castro said.
Castro said that the course evaluations are important and should be taken seriously among the student body.
“It’s our chance to help the teachers become better and we can give them comments about their lesson plans and teaching, in general,” Castro said. “We can tell them what really works for us as students and what doesn’t, and in the future they can take that into consideration, and they do, which is nice.”
Johnson said it is important that students understand that the information they provide may not be utilized by the teachers, but the school at least knows how they are feeling.
“There are faculty members that don’t do anything about it, of course,” Johnson said. “There are students that say terrible things about faculty members, but in the long run it’s still beneficial to write something because it’s not just the faculty member who is looking at it; there are other people who are looking at that information.”
Emails will be sent to all students with the link to their own personal course evaluations, which can be completed on tablets and smart phones as well. Banners and signs posted around campus will also offer QR codes to allow students to scan the code and access their courses.
“You can scan your phone and evaluate your course right there, or if you have Lancermail hooked up to your phone, you can read the email and click on the link,” Johnson said.
Student evaluations will run April 9-23 this semester.
