Encourage Student Participation

One of the biggest incentives for students to complete course evaluations is evidence of their importance to you as an instructor. You should communicate the value of course evaluations both in class, in course outlines, and through your reminders to students.

Highlight changes made to the course based on previous course evaluations results. This lets students know that their feedback is taken seriously to improve courses and teaching.

In class, present the guidelines on providing constructive feedback to your students. This page contains considerations for students when writing comments, including ways to express valid criticisms in a productive and respectful manner. Not only does presenting this page help you set a positive tone, but it also reiterates your commitment to receiving and acting on student feedback.

Share this 2-minute promotional video (in class or on your myCourses site) on why students should complete their course evaluations.

Share this 3-minute instructional video (in class or on your myCourses site) on how to provide constructive feedback in course evaluations.

If you have added additional questions to your course evaluation questionnaire, let students know that you are interested in receiving their feedback on the questions you have added.

Let students know if you have granted permission to disseminate your numerical course evaluation results (instructions). Students are more likely to complete the evaluations if they know that they and future students will have access to the results at a later date, provided that enough students respond.

Mid-course evaluations: When instructors gather and respond to formative feedback received during the semester, students are more likely to recognize the value of course evaluations. View suggestions.

Add a slide to your PowerPoint slideshows during the evaluation period to remind students about course evaluations being open. Sample slides are available.

Give an incentive to the entire class, such as an additional review session, if the class response rate exceeds an established target. To respect student anonymity, you should not provide incentives to individual students.

Include the evaluation period dates in your course syllabus and in the calendar in myCourses.

How to add Course Evaluation dates to the myCourses Calendar

Adding the course evaluation period dates (open and closing) to your myCourses Calendar provides another reminder to students about completing their evaluations.

1. On your course homepage, click on the drop-down menu next to Calendar and click the Go to Calendar button.
2. Click the Create Event button.
3. Enter the Event Title, Description, and include the time details in the When section. In the Description you may wish to include the direct link for students to complete their evaluations.

Learn more about the Calendar tool.

Monitor response rates and post regular news announcements with the current response rate on myCourses.

• If you have granted permission to disseminate your results, let students know how many responses are needed for the numerical results to be made available to students.

• If you have multiple sections of a course, encourage friendly competition among the sections for the highest response rate!

Send email reminders to your students.

Ask students to bring their laptops, smartphones, or tablets to class and allow time to complete the evaluations during class. It is most effective to do this at the beginning of the class, or during conferences, tutorials, or labs. You and your Teaching Assistants should leave the room during this process.

If you have access to computer labs, you can reserve a time during the evaluation period for students to go and fill them out. You and your Teaching Assistants should leave the room during this process.

Put a Mercury poster on your office door. See poster downloads below.