Course Evaluations

Improving Teaching

Course evaluation forms and procedures are one part of an overall program to improve teaching and learning at Western Washington University. This program includes a number of options for bubble sheet evaluation packets, student comment sheets, and online evaluations for distance-learning classes.

Western also provides extensive support to help faculty improve teaching and student learning through the Center for Instructional Innovation, including Events, Resources, the Innovative Teaching Showcase, and the Teaching and Learning Academy.

All faculty members are encouraged to take advantage of these programs to continually improve the quality of their teaching and their students' learning.

Interpreting Evaluations

Student Evaluations of Instruction provide one limited measure of an instructor's teaching abilities. A rigorous evaluation of teaching effectiveness should also include peer evaluations, course portfolios, teaching portfolios, or other instruments.

To help in the interpretation of student evaluations, the Testing Center has conducted an analysis (PDF) of recent teaching evaluations which highlights the many sources of variation in ratings associated with extraneous factors unrelated to instructor ability.