As a department head, dean, or chair, you know that course evaluations provide critical insights into teaching effectiveness, curriculum design, and student engagement. But ensuring that faculty are prepared for evaluations—and that students provide meaningful feedback—requires a proactive approach.
While SmartEvals streamlines the process, faculty still play a crucial role in encouraging participation and guiding students toward constructive responses. A little preparation at the departmental level can lead to higher response rates, more actionable feedback, and ultimately stronger teaching outcomes.
Here’s how you can support your faculty in getting the most out of course evaluations.
1. Set the Tone: Emphasize the Value of Evaluations
Faculty are more likely to prioritize course evaluations when they understand why they matter beyond just a set of numbers. As a leader, you can help shift the focus from a compliance task to a tool for growth and improvement.
Ways to Reinforce the Importance of Evaluations:
✔ Communicate their impact – Share examples of how past evaluations have shaped department policies, improved courses, or supported faculty development.
✔ Highlight their role in decision-making – Explain how evaluations contribute to tenure, promotion, and teaching awards.
✔ Encourage faculty to discuss evaluations with students – When instructors engage students about the process, response rates and feedback quality improve.
📢 Example Department-Wide Message:
“As we approach course evaluation season, I want to emphasize the value of student feedback in shaping our teaching and curriculum. Please take a few minutes in class to discuss the purpose of evaluations and encourage participation. Higher response rates lead to more reliable data, which benefits both faculty and students.”
By reinforcing the “why” behind evaluations, faculty will be more motivated to integrate them into their course planning.
2. Encourage Faculty to Customize Their Evaluations
SmartEvals allows instructors to add their own questions, ensuring they gather feedback that aligns with their specific teaching goals.
How Custom Questions Help:
✔ Provide targeted insights on new teaching strategies or course formats.
✔ Allow faculty to track progress over multiple semesters on key areas.
✔ Give instructors more ownership of the evaluation process, increasing their engagement.
✅ Action Item: Encourage faculty to review their evaluation setup and add one or two custom questions that will help them refine their teaching.
3. Support Faculty in Driving Higher Response Rates
One of the biggest challenges with course evaluations is getting students to participate. While automated reminders help, faculty-driven outreach is the most effective way to boost response rates.
Best Practices for Faculty to Increase Participation:
✔ Set aside class time – Even 5-10 minutes can lead to significant improvements in response rates.
✔ Use SmartEvals’ direct email reminders – Personalized emails from instructors have a stronger impact than system-generated ones.
✔ Utilize QR codes for easy access – SmartEvals provides custom QR codes that can be displayed in classrooms or shared on slides.
📢 Message for Faculty:
“Faculty who dedicate class time for evaluations often see response rates above 80%. If possible, consider setting aside a few minutes and using a QR code or direct link to make access seamless for students.”
✅ Action Item: Provide faculty with guidelines or resources on how to encourage participation, and consider tracking department-wide response rates to identify areas for improvement.
4. Promote Thoughtful, Constructive Feedback
Encouraging high response rates is only half the battle—faculty also need quality feedback that leads to actionable improvements. As a department leader, you can help by:
✔ Encouraging faculty to guide students on providing meaningful responses – Specific, constructive feedback is far more valuable than vague or overly general comments.
✔ Providing a framework for interpreting evaluations – Help instructors focus on trends over time rather than isolated comments.
✔ Offering post-evaluation discussions – Consider department-wide meetings to reflect on results and share best practices.
📢 Message for Faculty:
“Before evaluations open, remind students that thoughtful, specific feedback helps improve course design. Instead of general comments like ‘Great class,’ encourage them to provide details on what teaching methods or assignments were most effective.”
✅ Action Item: Share best practices for handling student feedback, including how to extract key insights and avoid getting stuck on outlier responses.
5. Follow Up: Recognize and Act on Feedback
One of the most effective ways to ensure long-term engagement with evaluations is to demonstrate that feedback leads to action.
How to Close the Feedback Loop:
✔ Encourage faculty to acknowledge past student feedback at the start of new courses.
✔ Use SmartEvals’ trend reports to track improvements and highlight successes.
✔ Recognize faculty who have successfully implemented student-driven improvements.
📢 Example Department Update:
“Over the past two semesters, students in our department requested more interactive learning opportunities. As a result, several faculty members have incorporated new case studies and group discussions, leading to a 10% increase in engagement scores on evaluations.”
✅ Action Item: Highlight positive outcomes from course evaluations in department meetings or newsletters, reinforcing their value.
Final Thoughts: A Department-Wide Effort
Course evaluations work best when they are seen as a collaborative effort between faculty, students, and department leadership. By taking a proactive approach—from setting expectations and supporting faculty to tracking trends and recognizing improvements—you create an environment where evaluations lead to meaningful change.
Key Takeaways for Department Heads, Deans, and Chairs:
✅ Emphasize the value of evaluations – Faculty engagement starts with leadership.
✅ Encourage faculty to customize their questions – More relevant feedback leads to better insights.
✅ Support faculty in increasing response rates – Provide tools and best practices to maximize participation.
✅ Help faculty interpret feedback effectively – Focus on trends rather than individual comments.
✅ Showcase improvements based on evaluations – When faculty and students see changes, engagement improves.
With SmartEvals, you have the tools to support faculty at every stage of the evaluation process, ensuring that feedback leads to continuous improvement for both instructors and students.
Ready to enhance your department’s course evaluation strategy? Let SmartEvals help you streamline the process.
