For the past week or so, you should have been able to access the online evaluation for this course. (If you cannot access it, please contact the university’s Help Desk at (208) 426-4357.)

Many educational researchers have studied how effective online evaluations can be at measuring the quality of a course and how much learning has taken place in the course. Unfortunately, the results of these studies have been disappointing: course evaluations tend to reflect:

• the grade a student thinks he or she is going to receive in the course. A student who thinks s/he is getting an A is likely to rate a course more highly than a student who thinks s/he is getting a D.
• whether or not the student likes the professor’s personality. If you think your professor is friendly and has a good sense of humor, for example, you’re likely to rate him or her more highly than a professor with a more serious or more distant demeanor.

Furthermore, female faculty and faculty of color tend to receive lower course ratings than do white, male professors. (Good times. Good times.)

So—and this is the important part—if you haven’t yet filled out your course evaluation, I suggest you do these things:

• Read the introduction to Module 15, which summarizes the course and offers some background information on why I designed it the way I did.
• Instead of thinking about your possible grade in the course, think about your opportunities to learn in the course. Specifically, I’d like you to provide me with some tips on how I could improve your motivation and ability to learn in HIST 100.
• Tell me what worked well (so that I know to keep it) and also what aspects of the course might be tossed or improved. If you’re recommending tossing some aspect of the course, let me know why, and also suggest what kinds of content, activities, or assessments might replace it.

I can’t see the evaluations until after I have submitted the final course grades, so please express your opinions freely but constructively. Don’t worry about me being able to identify you individually and “punishing” you for your opinions or suggestions.

I do read all my course evaluations carefully, and I implement many, if not most, of the recommendations students make within them. Over the years, students have contributed tremendously to improving the teaching and learning in my classes. Please join them in helping improve the education of future students. Thanks so much!