Resource C. Types of Course Evaluation Data
Collecteda
- Surveys. During each semester that Global Change I was offered from fall 1997 through spring 2000, the evaluation team administered web-based baseline, midterm, and final assessment surveys, and then analyzed the resulting data and presented their findings to the faculty group at each semester's end. These surveys use both closed- and open-ended questions to gather information about students' experiences with the labs, lectures, and Global Change web site. During the 2000-2001 academic year, only baseline and final surveys were administered, and the evaluation team analyzed the resulting data and presented reports to the faculty group within several weeks after the end of each term. As of fall term, 2001, the Global Change teaching staff will transition to administering simplified baseline and end-of-term web surveys only, which the teaching staff will analyze themselves. For more detail on Dey's survey-based findings (see Resource D).
- Interviews. During the early years of the Undergraduate Curriculum Development Testbed (UCDT) project, interviews were conducted with the faculty, teaching assistants, and administrators to understand their experiences with the UCDT program, focusing issues pertaining to interdisciplinary teaching at the University of Michigan.
- Observations. A member of the evaluation team attended most of the lectures and some of the labs during a substantial portion of the fall 1997 semester. Conducting observations is standard procedure for new evaluators who join the Global Change project from time to time.
- Focus Groups. The evaluation team conducted a student focus group during the 1997 winter semester to gather the collective experiences of students.
- Classroom Assessment Techniques. On the urging of the evaluators, the faculty experimented with the following two easy-to-use "classroom assessment techniques," the One-Minute Paper, and a web-based forum for weekly commentary on lectures and labs known as "GC Week," both of which are designed to assess course-related knowledge and skills and assess learner reactions to lecture and laboratory instruction.
- In previous years (though not during the 2000-2001 academic year), the faculty employed One-Minute Paper exercises to assess the results of the weekly labs. (To use the One-Minute Paper, an instructor stops class two or three minutes early and asks students to respond briefly to some variation on the following two questions: "What was the most important thing you learned during this class?" and "What important question remains unanswered?") When we conducted interviews for this case study in January 2000, the students were writing One-Minute Papers (for which they received a small number of points), and submitting them to the evaluators, who then noted which students submitted responses, stripped the students' names from the data, collated the data and provided it to each GSI.
- In order to minimize the amount of class and lab time used for assessment activities, as well as routinize and make the data acquisition process more efficient, the "GC Week" initiative was implemented during the fall 2000 academic term and was operational through winter term, 2001. Students were required to access a web-based evaluation form and to rate numerically--on a scale from 1 (very inefficient) to 5 (very efficient)]--each of three weekly lectures and one weekly lab for effectiveness of the lecturer/GSI as well as effectiveness of the lecture/lab content. Students were also given the opportunity to submit comments on how the lecturer/GSI or lecture/lab material could be improved. For this work, students were also awarded a small number of points.
a. These data were collected by an evaluation team led by Professor Eric Dey (Higher Education, University of Michigan) as part of the School of Education's Undergraduate Curriculum Development Testbed (UCDT).
