LITTLETON – Student evaluations for all classes offered at Arapahoe Community College will be conducted online for the first time this fall, and students who complete evaluations could win a laptop computer or an iPod. A task force convened in the spring of 2007 recommended the online evaluations after they had been conducted through the years with paper and pencil for only a small percentage of ACC classes.
Jennifer Nikki DeLeon Wood, a recent ACC graduate, was a member of the task force that explored options for the evaluations. “Bubble sheets and number 2 pencils during the last few minutes of class -- what a waste of time!” she said. “The end of the semester is a time when students want to spend class time focusing on final projects and exams. The new system gives this class time back to students and instructors.”
The task force recommended contracting with OnlineCourseEvaluations.com as the solution for ACC. Considerations leading to the decision included comments from recent student opinion surveys, the ability to provide student feedback to faculty in a more timely and efficient manner, reducing paper copies and contributing to a culture in which data informs practice and decision making. OnlineCourseEvaluations.com (OCE) will manage the new approach to obtaining student feedback regarding the College’s highest priorities: teaching and learning. |
 |
An implementation specialist with OCE, Mike Bernhard said the company protects the anonymity of students. “Course evaluations are submitted by students anonymously through our system.” Bernhard said. “Instructors will not know which student completed which evaluation.” ACC students who complete evaluations for all of their classes will be entered into a drawing for a new laptop computer or an iPOD. The drawing will be managed by OCE to ensure its integrity.
 |
According to Vice President of Instruction Diane Hegeman, getting paper results back to instructors used to take months. “Now the College will be able to provide feedback to instructors soon after grades have been submitted,” Hegeman said. “Through timely feedback, instructors learn what works and doesn’t work from the students and are able to make adjustments accordingly.”
Instructional Dean Janna Oakes said ACC has been using the same set of questions for all course evaluations. “The new system allows faculty to add unique questions for each course, resulting in relevant feedback in each individual course,” Oakes said. Students will have easy access to course evaluation surveys through the ACC Web site and in the College’s computer labs.
|
“In a nutshell, ACC faculty will receive more useful information much faster than we have been able to provide in the past,” Hegeman added. “We see this as a win-win solution for Arapahoe Community College.”
