Student Course Evaluations:
Revisions

About the Proposed Revisions 

The proposed revisions of ACC’s Student Course Evaluations, like those for the faculty evaluation process,  were requested by faculty and are being devised by faculty. 

Sixty three percent of 583 respondents who completed the Faculty Development and Evaluation Task Force’s 2018 survey on faculty development and evaluation thought student evaluation of courses needed improvement. Faculty wanted results from their student evaluations that would provide actionable information to improve teaching and student learning.

The Student Course Evaluations Work Group,  a sub-committee of the Faculty Development and Evaluation Committee, offers the following information as a starting point for continued collegewide discussion on crafting questions that reach the goal of meaningful and equitable student course evaluations.

Considerations in the redesign of course evaluations

The Work Group recommended the following considerations:

• Use end-of semester student course evaluations for formative and summative evaluation with an emphasis on formative use for reflection and enhancement of teaching practices.

• Encourage both full time and adjunct faculty members to make changes to their teaching practice based on the results presented in student course evaluations.

• Consider student voice presented in course evaluations as significant but as only one point of measurement of a faculty member’s teaching performance.

• Foundational to the redesign should be the recognition of the research on inherent implicit bias in student course evaluations.

• Distinctions in the ratings for student course evaluations should be clarified by using a three-scale rating of meets, approaches, or does not meet expectations (the same ratings used in the new Faculty Evaluation Process).

• Select faculty for highest priority to hire without using results of student course evaluations as the primary determinant.

• Consider the purchase AI software, if possible, to assist larger departments in analyzing student comments. 

Current Status

• Work on student course evaluations resumed in Fall 2023 after a pause in work for the completion of the revised faculty evaluation process.

• The weight and use of student course evaluations in a faculty member’s Overall Summary Evaluation was addressed in new Guidelines and Procedures for Faculty Evaluation. 

• OIRA joined the Workgroup to assist with the process of developing and vetting questions.

• An initial group of proposed questions for lecture-based courses were completed.

• Collected data on the proposed questions from student focus groups and end-of-semester course evaluation pilots of the questions by various faculty (spring and fall, 2025), with a followup survey for participatying faculty.

• Consulted with OIRA to analyze the focus and pilot data make modifications, complete a factor analysis of the questions, and make recommendations for initial ratings.

• New surveys were approved by FDEC and ASAC in March-May of 2025 for adoption in Fall 2025.

• As part of the adoption, the college commits to reviewing the initial results of these surveys (with the help of OIRA) after 2 years and a regular review of student course evaluations every 5 years thereafter.