In Fall 2023, UMSL transitioned to a common End-of-Course Student Feedback Survey aligned with the University's definition of teaching effectiveness. More information on the development of this survey and its question set is available on the Teaching Effectiveness Taskforce webpage.
The survey asks students to indicate Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree with 14 statements grouped into three categories: About the Course, About My Learning, and About the Instructor. Students may also select Not Applicable or No Opinion. Open-ended questions allow students to reflect on their course experience.
A key change from previous course evaluations is the use of a 4-point scale instead of a 5- or 6-point scale (e.g., Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree). This may impact a faculty member's maximum score on the feedback reports. Not Applicable or No Opinion responses do not contribute to mean scores. Faculty seeking guidance on navigating scale changes may consult this resource.
Department-Added Questions
Beginning Summer 2023, departments may add up to 4 questions from the supplemental question pool. All questions in the pool follow UMSL's Student Feedback Guiding Principles. Department-added questions appear at the end of the survey for all courses within that department.
Two types of questions can be included on End-of-Course Student Feedback Surveys:
- Overall Questions: about the course; results visible to all instructors and TAs.
- People-Based Questions: about each instructor or TA individually; results visible only to the person being evaluated. Course co-instructors and TAs cannot view each other's people-based results.
Departments may also specify
As departments select up to 4 questions to add to their courses, they will need to determine if the question should be labeled as an overall question or a people-based question. The system can also allow specific people-based questions related to the role of the person. This may be useful if you would like a specific question for TAs only.
Additionally, departments can choose to have a department question applied to only a subset of courses. The subset of courses must be differentiated by the Component label in Courseleaf. A list of labels and a brief description is provided:
- LEC (lecture): Faculty delivered instruction in a classroom setting
- RSD (Recitation/Seminar/Discussion): smaller class focusing on increased interaction
- LAB: “Practice” portion of a class where experimentation, projects, or other exercises occur
- INT (Internet): Courses with more than 75% of their content online will have this component label. Some blended online classes with less than 75% online content will not get this label
- IND (Independent Study): one on one instruction
- FLD (Field study): Off-campus, hands-on instruction. Practicums, clinicals, and internships use this component label
- LES (Lesson): musical or other performance art instruction
- STU (studio): Hands-on, interactive project-oriented, used frequently in art, film, media
If you are a department chair and have discussed the questions you and your colleagues would like to add to the survey, you can submit your selections using this Google form.