Santa Clara University

Online course evaluations were administered for the first time during Spring term 2009. For the most part the evaluation process went smoothly, and the overall response rate of 82.4 percent was comparable to the overall response rates to paper surveys administered in the Spring term during the previous five years (81.0 percent to 83.9 percent). However, there was a greater consistency with early term response rates in some units than others.

Arts and Sciences (86.4 percent), Business (80.9 percent), and University Programs (90.6 percent) all had response rates that were comparable to those of paper surveys from previous Spring terms. Engineering’s response rate (72.9 percent) was about six percentage points lower than that for previous paper surveys, and the response rate for the School of Education and Counseling Psychology (69.5 percent) was about 14 percentage points lower.

Information Services is trying to identify possible causes for the lower response rates in these two Schools. One possible factor is that graduate students may not read their SCU email as promptly as undergraduates and therefore missed notifications about the evaluations. The School of Education and Counseling Psychology is predominately a graduate unit.

The response rates that Santa Clara experienced are near the upper end of rates achieved at other universities we contacted when considering implementing online evaluations. Many studies have shown that the single factor influencing high response rates to course evaluations – regardless of how they are administered – is the emphasis that faculty place on the importance of the evaluation to them in improving their courses. Faculty reminders sent to students during the ninth week of the term to let them know that course evaluations are coming up, and that they need to check their GroupWise email to get the link to the survey, will go a long way toward increasing response rates. Thank you for conveying this importance to your students.

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