This year, all course evaluations and house adviser evaluations will be completed online. The changover was initiated because of the ease with which data from the evaluations can be analyzed using a computer.
Amy Salot, Director of Residential Life, says that the switch “makes my job much easier.” Since the evaluations have moved online, the data are automatically sorted and organized by computer. Now, instead of having to read all of the evaluations individually, Ms. Salot can look at every student’s answer to each question simultaneously and see trends in the answers with greater speed and ease.
Paper evaluations took all of February to read, but since the change the process takes only a few days. Ms. Salot said that though she did not find any new information from the online evaluations that she missed in the paper evaluations, she was “able to read responses much more quickly send the information to the advisers.”
Also, the switch to online evaluations has made it easier to track students who have not turned in evaluations. In previous years, almost 50 students would not turn in their evaluations. Now it is possible to track students who have not turned in their evaluations without losing anonymity, so only 6 students have not turned in their house evaluations this year.
Another added benefit of the switch to online is that students are writing more on the online evaluation than they typically did on the paper evaluations. Students generally find it quicker and easier to type than to write, so they tend to be willing to write more in the comments section of the evaluation.
The comments portion of the evaluation is the most important part because it shows the true opinion of the students and allows them to express in their own words what they would change.
Most students seem to like the switch and to agree with Ms. Salot’s findings. Suril Kantaria’09 said, “Since typing is faster than writing… students are more elaborate in their answers.” Carter Hatton ’09 and Chetan Kumar ’09 both said that the switch to online evaluations “makes it easier” to provide their feedback to the school.
A final benefit of the switch is the conservation of paper. House evaluations alone meant two pages of questions for each of 600 students. Course evaluations required three pages of questions for at least five courses for each of Choate’s 850 students. The amount of paper saved adds up and certainly lessens the carbon footprint that the school leaves behind. Ms. Salot said that, although saving paper was not the main focus of the switch, “it was an added bonus.”
Though the online evaluation is the exact same as the paper evaluation in terms of content, the consensus is that the online evaluation is overall better than the paper evaluation. As Ms. Salot said, “It provides a more useful package of information.”
