Digest No. 04 - June 2018
Trade-offs: Online vs. Paper Course Evaluations
What is the most effective way to evaluate teaching in the classroom? Edgar Treischl and Tobias Wolbring address this question through a series of well-designed experiments that flesh out important answers regarding the delivery mode (online vs. paper) of course evaluations and its subsequent influence on the course ratings themselves. Results indicated that response rates for paper-based evaluations were significantly higher than those for online evaluations, but the gap between these rates decreased if students were initially emailed an invitation to evaluate courses and given time in class to complete the course evaluations. In addition, results indicated that paper-based evaluations trended toward more positive pictures of teaching than those administered online.