Course:Course Evaluations in Moodle

Here is the list of instructions for those that are already using Moodle. It takes less than 2 minutes to enable it. At the bottom of this article is an FAQ regarding the process:

Please do not change any other settings other than what has been described above unless you contact me...
 * 1. go to your course, find the section/topic you want to place the questionnaire in
 * 2. Turn your editing on
 * 3. Click Add an activity or resource at the appropriate Week or Topic.  I suggest the very top.
 * 4. Select Questionnaire, then Add at the bottom
 * 5. Give it a Name and Summary - both required fields for example, "Anonymous Evaluation of Joe Brown in Physics 113"
 * 6. Timing - check an Open and Close date and time, see item 14 below or give them at least a week.
 * 7. Type - Select Respond Once
 * 8. Respondent Type - Select Anonymous
 * 9. Save/Resume Answers  set to Yes
 * 10. Content Options - Select the appropriate public Questionnaire (probably the "Student Evaluation of Instructor - standard 34 questions) for your discipline.  If it is not listed, please contact me.  If you see a duplicate of the survey, just choose the top one.
 * 11. Save at the bottom and you are good to go
 * 12. Inform your students that the questionnaire is available (with the dates you set) and the importance of participating.
 * 13. You need to let Doug know the Name of your course (from the Settings, Edit Settings area), and the date it was done if this is a formative evaluation.  If it is summative, you need to provide me with the day/time and the divisional secretary that the report needs to be sent to.  Reports will not be forwarded until after the marks have been submitted to the registrar.
 * 14. In order to improve your returns, we suggest you either book a computer lab, or allow your students time at the beginning of the class to find a lab or use their laptop/smartphone to complete.  It shouldn't take more than 30 minutes.  By having the evaluation at the beginning of the class, the students will hopefully return for the balance of the lecture/presentation.

FAQ's

FAQ Regarding the Instructor Evaluations in Moodle Last updated on March 13, 2014

1. Is it secure? - Moodle uses an encrypted process to login and the servers are kept behind TRU firewalls and are maintained by the IT Department. Moodle is open source software so TRU provides the updates and no other company accesses the information or data. As a general comment, folks use email without much concern and it's one of the most insecure processes on the internet.

2.  I heard that return rates are low? - return rates vary. Trades and Technology get close to a 100% return on the evaluations. How do they do this? At the appropriate day/time, the instructor walks them over to the computer lab and lets them complete the questionnaire. I did a random sample of 26 courses and the average return rate was 65%. In order to improve return rates I suggest: o Choose a day/time at the beginning of your lecture and give students 30 minutes to go find a lab to complete the survey o Reserve a lab as well for this time and walk the students over. It's important that you do not remain in the computer lab while the questionnaire is being completed o you can also make the survey available for a 2 or 3 dayor more period to allow others to complete on their own time

3. Is it anonymous, can I see a student's results? - no, it is not possible to connect a student response to their ID. All we can see is if a student attempted the questionnaire.

4. Where does the data go, who has access? - all questionnaire results go into one questionnaire that only I have access to. The data goes into one very large cryptic text file that requires a proprietary program to generate the reports. Administration does not have access to this data, or the software that generates the reports and they have not asked for it. They prefer that this is handled by faculty at this time. The instructor getting evaluated cannot access the data. The instructions are that if the evaluation is summative, then the pdf report goes to the support staff (Secretary) in charge of the PRC for distrbution. If it's formative, it goes to the instructor that requested the evaluation after the final marks have been submitted.

5. Is this for summative only? - you can use this for summative or formative evaluations, it's your call

6. How does it work? - There are two audiences, those that are using Moodle, and those that are not. If you are using Moodle, it takes less than 2 minutes to enable the questionnaire. If you do not use Moodle, it takes about 10 minutes to create your course and enable the evaluation. Some departments use the support staff to administer/create the Moodle course with the questionnaire

7. How many questionnaires are there: - The standard 34 questions that have been here for at least 25 years - the student evaluation of teaching assistants - English and Modern Languages - TRU Bachelor of Education Program - Nursing Clinical evaluation - Sciences, 43 questions - Education, Faculty Mentor - the four approved questions from Senate

8. Can I customize the Questionnaire? - it is possible, but the report would need to be changed in order to do this. It is suggested that the department recommend the changes and then the institution would need to cover the cost of creating the new report.

9. Are there support materials to help do this? - the Moodle support course has how to videos and text files to explain and help in the process. If you need access to this course, please contact me.

10.  This seems to be brand new, I never heard anything about it? - I got asked to create an alternative process using existing technology and at minimal cost. The process was created when Max Lentz, the person charged with doing the traditional questionnaire was laid off back in May. Emails had been sent out advising chairs of the process, but, I am only the messenger/enabler, not the originator of the change.

11. I use only Blackboard and don't know anything about Moodle, how am I supposed to do this? - it depends on your school/faculty as in some cases, the support staff are doing it all. I can also enable the course for you and setup the questionnaire, but will only provide this on a limited basis. Many Bb users have successfully created a Moodle course with the evaluation.

12. How do I get a copy of the report? - You need to let me know the following information: o the name of your Moodle Course, in the Settings, Edit Settings area o the day/time that the questionnaire was available o I will then generate the pdf version and email the results to the appropriate person. You will need to let me know who this is if it's summative.

13. What are the advantages and why Moodle: - the whole process is done within days of the questionnaire being completed - the support staff no longer has to type out the comments and be party to the information - Moodle is being used by the majority of Campus Faculty, close to 75% and all students are familiar with it, there are over 22,000 student names in the database.

14. Do I have an alternative? - TRU did provide a paper based alternative. I do not know who will provide the analysis/report and type out the comments. I suggest you contact your Dean or Chairperson about this.

15. What is this pilot project all about? - I am not part of this project, but the institution trialed a series of 20 Instructor evaluation questions through Vovici. You are best to contact Brenda Thompson the Chair of the Instructional Development and Support Committee or Chris Adam, the Dean, about the pilot.

16. Can students do the questionnaire on their smart phones?

- yes, but trying to do the comment section on a smartphone is very difficult and I suspect there would be minimal responses, so I don't recommend it if you value the comments, but again, it's your call.