The process of choosing courses can often be confusing and frustrating. In order to gain a sense of how interesting and challenging classes are, students frequently turn to the Penn Course Review. Since moving online last spring, the response rate for the evaluations has increased to over 85 percent, up from 70-to-75 percent when they were on paper. The Review’s scores and comments will be even more helpful now — not only for students, but also for faculty and administrators.
Students can gain better insight into what potential classes are like with online evaluations. Those who may have been absent from class the day professors handed the forms out in the past can give their input, and respondents can be more thoughtful because they have more time to take the surveys. Students who opted out of answering the survey in the past should consider putting in their two cents. While the 85-percent return rate this fall is good, it could still be higher (and it was last spring when over 90 percent participated). The more responses received, the more refelctive of students’ opinions the scores will be.
Professors and administrators should also take advantage of the increased accuracy brought about by the higher return rate. While the results may bruise their egos, professors should take a look at their students’ honest feedback and reevaluate their classes accordingly. And as administrators make decisions about promoting and retaining professors, they need to see what students think of their teachers.
