Student Evaluation: Providing Useful Feedback to Your Instructor

• Student evaluations are administered by Ohio University and are anonymous. Instructors and department chairs are able to read them only after the grade-submission deadline.
• You are evaluating two different, but connected, things: the course and the instructor. You will use numerical scores and comments in both cases. Instructors often find the comments to be the most useful part of the evaluation.
• Your evaluation provides input to decisions regarding annual raises and career advancement for faculty.
• Your feedback can influence your instructors' approach to teaching. It is useful for them to know what is and what isn't working well in the classroom.
• Specific constructive suggestions that focus on your learning are far more useful than general critiques*.
  E.g.: Instead of "Instructor only lectures", you may write "Instructor only lectures and a short break would help me pay attention for the full class period"
• Comments that are not related to your learning diminish the value of your feedback*.

^*Center for research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan.