A Talk by Steven J. Bell
Associate Dean,
Academic and Community Engagement, Temple University Libraries
About this talk
Student course evaluations are often the subject of faculty complaints, given their inherent weaknesses as assessment instruments. Many online instructors are resistant to using them an indicator of their own instructional effectiveness – and to be fair the research has shown that student evaluations are subject to a range of biases and inaccuracies. The presenter’s own experience is that despite the recognized flaws of student course evaluations, they have the potential to help online instructors improve the design of the course as well as their instructional strategies. In the session attendees will receive ten tips for focusing on ways to anticipate what most helps students learn and succeed as online learners, based on information derived from an analysis of their course evaluations. There’s no doubt that most online instructors review their course evaluations seeking clues to learning improvement, but often end up with low impact tweaks to assignments or syllabi. These twelve tips can lead to substantive fundamental pedagogical change in online course delivery.
