The best way to increase both the response rate and usefulness of your course evaluations is to demonstrate to your students that the evaluations are important to you. Here are some strategies to do so:

Give students time in class.

Instructors who provide students time in class to complete their evaluations, see an average response rate of 83% (compared to an average response rate of 59% for those who did not). Devoting class time shows students that the evaluations are important to you. Students can complete the evaluations on any computer, tablet or smart phone connected to the internet. Follow these instructions to conduct an in-class evaluation.

Talk about how you’ve used evaluations in the past.

Use a recent example so students can see how the feedback from prior students benefited them and how their feedback will thus benefit future students. 

Check your response rates during the evaluation period.

If you log into MOCES during the evaluation period you'll see your up-to-the-minute response rate. 

Remind students to complete their evaluations.

Remind students to complete their evaluations during class time, in D2L, and via email.