By Tyler White | Staff Writer
It’s that time of year again. Assignments are piling up, final projects are creeping in, finals are inching closer — and Canvas keeps reminding you that you have pending course evaluations.
With everything else on your plate, do you even have the time to sit down, rate your professors and evaluate their performance? It may seem like a tedious task, but I believe it is so much more than just something you should push aside.
Some professors offer extra credit when you complete their class’s course evaluation. While that is a nice bonus to your grade, you should take course evaluations seriously regardless — for the benefit of your professor, administration and the university.
Course evaluations aren’t just a few ratings and a couple words that you send to your professor to let them know if they did well or not. These ratings and comments are sent not only to the professor but also to higher administration, so they can see course performances and what needs to be improved or changed.
It goes beyond simply talking about a professor’s performance. Course evaluations allow them to readjust their course material and structure to make the best experience for students to come. It also allows them to see what was engaging and worked well, so they can expand upon those aspects while reducing or eliminating the parts that may have felt less valuable to students.
Now, I understand that sometimes it feels like just another task added to your list. However, your evaluations don’t even need to be that long or intensive. Sometimes, all you need to do is provide a rating and maybe a couple sentences on what truly stood out to you in the course. Even a little bit of feedback goes a long way in providing a better experience for future students.
Some people may feel like their course evaluations don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. It may seem that because there are so many others who will do the course evaluations, their feedback isn’t necessary or important. However, I say that every bit of feedback is important to the professor, as it allows them to see multiple perspectives on their course. Moreover, it allows them to see areas where people agree or disagree on what is engaging.
As the end of the semester approaches, I encourage you to take a little bit of time out of your schedule to complete your course evaluations. Even though it may seem tedious, it is important for your professors and administration to see course performances. Just a few words of feedback and honest ratings go a long way.
