The effect of switching to mandatory online course assessments on response rates and course ratings

Ojmarrh Mitchell, Melissa Morales

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Increasingly, student assessments of courses are being conducted online as opposed to administered in class. A growing body of research compares response rates and course ratings of courses evaluated online versus on paper. The present study extends this research by comparing student course assessments before and after the University of South Florida made online evaluations mandatory for all courses. This change only directly affected courses taught on-campus, as online courses were already being assessed online. However, we examine the effect of this change on courses taught on-campus and online, because we expect this change in policy to have differential effects. We hypothesise that by making online assessments mandatory for all courses, online assessments went from a novel method of evaluation to the norm; and, therefore, increased response rates for online courses, but had the opposite effect for on-campus courses. We find mixed support for our hypothesis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)629-639
Number of pages11
JournalAssessment and Evaluation in Higher Education
Volume43
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - May 19 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • course evaluation
  • instructor evaluation
  • online teaching evaluations
  • Student evaluation of teaching

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education

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