The Essential Guide

to COVID Course
Evaluation Strategy

© 2020 Watermark 1
 So much is changing on campus this term, and it’s important to pay attention to how these changes
impact your faculty and students.

In a Spring 2020 Watermark survey of 850 participants at 706 institutions, 87% of respondents said
they’re highly prioritizing student feedback as a way to get insight into curriculum and the student
experience. But the pandemic caused 51% of institutions to adjust their processes. Why?

Reasons for modifying Spring 2020 evaluations

61.5% had concerns about the context

and use of responses gathered 20.1% were using a paper-based or other
method that wasn’t feasible during
during COVID-19 COVID-19

47.2% had concerns about how

COVID-19 may alter the data 7.3% didn’t have time or capacity to
conduct course evaluations given
collection COVID-19 restraints

How To Drive Meaningful Student Participation

In a Spring 2020 Watermark survey, 46% of respondents indicated that their institutions planned to
increase the frequency of feedback collection, add new surveys and questions, and add additional
course evaluations to survey schedules in Summer and Fall 2020. Use these tips to make effective
adjustments to your course evaluations.

Focus on feedback that matters. Consider adding new surveys or custom questions to
help you provide the right kind of support to students and faculty. Swinburne University used their
early check-in survey to gauge students’ satisfaction with faculty communications, their ability to
access online resources, and whether they need additional support.

Recent research by EDUCAUSE shows institutions are finding creative ways to provide support to
students and survey feedback can help determine what is most helpful. Some options include:

• Offering drive-up internet/moving Wi-Fi hotspots to provide service in parking lots

• Delivering live, online tech help for faculty and students

• Maintaining social distancing in computer spaces

• Providing e-texts or mailing textbooks

The pandemic is also creating unique challenges for students as they adjust to hybrid learning
models, including time management, self-direction, finding reliable internet access and a quiet
location to work, and increased stress outside of school. Use custom questions like those
suggested by EDUCAUSE to learn how to best support students through these unique difficulties.

© 2020 Watermark 2
 Don’t stray too far from the standard… but be flexible. Stick to the same timelines,
offer the same access to responses, and work from the same survey instruments. It’s important to
show students you’re consistently collecting feedback and that their opinions are valued.

Allow programs to adjust their survey length or add additional questions. For example, one college
at Washburn University shortened their survey from 50+ questions to just five, and all other units
could add an open-ended, neutral question for students to provide additional comments.

Look at the data differently. According to our survey, many institutions are looking at
course evaluation results from Spring 2020 from a different perspective.

Planned use of Spring 2020

course evaluation results
To inform changes to student services offerings 34.4%

To inform changes to teaching & learning resources 63.8%

To inform professional development opportunities for faculty 53.3%

To inform changes to the curriculum 43.9%

As an input to faculty reviews 44.8%

None/other 20.6%

n=640

Reconsider faculty reviews. While most institutions continued collecting student feedback
in Spring 2020, less than half (44.8%) planned to use the course evaluation data in faculty reviews.
Instead, they’re using student feedback to plan for future terms.

“
We don’t want faculty to think we can adequately and reasonably assess the work
they’ve done to modify their course to online instruction with one survey. What we really
want to do is use this to glean information from students on how to plan for the summer
and potentially the fall being online.”

Christa Smith, Academic Effectiveness Analyst at Washburn University

© 2020 Watermark 3
 Add an asterisk to long-term reports. COVID-19 not only impacted the courses students
were evaluating – response rates took a hit as well. If you’re among the 59.5% of responding
institutions that planned to return to pre-COVID course evaluation plans in Fall 2020 and beyond, be
sure to factor these variations, along with any new surveys and the addition of custom questions,
into your longitudinal reporting.

Go digital to improve response rates. Seamless integration with your campus learning
management system and the use of notifications, reminders, and pop-ups drive strong response
rates. A large percentage of students prefer to complete their evaluations on mobile devices, so
make sure your platform adapts to any device.

“
Nearly 50% of students use [their mobile phone] to complete their survey. When you tie that in
with the learning management system, you… get the responses because it’s all in the system
where they’re already working.”

Pam Jones, Coordinator, Surveys & Credit Arrangements at Swinburne University of Technology (AU)

The Bottom Line

It’s essential to stay connected and collect immediate, honest feedback from students as your
campus’ plans continue to evolve. By creating a digital evaluation and survey strategy, you’ll be
better equipped to collect relevant, actionable feedback, make real-time adjustments, and align
your plans with student needs for Fall 2020 and beyond.

EvaluationKIT by Watermark is purpose-built for higher education and offers a rich set of features
to help you achieve your response rate goals. With turnkey LMS integrations for Blackboard, Canvas,
D2L, Moodle, and more, we can get you up and running quickly with access to the data you need to
answer big-picture questions and make meaningful improvements.

© 2020 Watermark 4
Learn more at www.watermarkinsights.com