Currently, there are two times during the semester to assess your courses: an initial indicative feedback in week 5 followed by an in-depth feedback in week 13. Before this system was introduced two years ago, there was only one opportunity to give feedback on courses in week 8 (and for some courses, an additional in-depth feedback in week 13). This old format has been criticised: it does not guarantee that feedback can be given over the 2nd half of the semester, and does not make it easy to fix problems in a course, as the 8th week of the semester is ‘too late’ to take action.
The new course evaluation format therefore proposes a remedy to these problems, by offering teachers a first draft of indicative feedback early in the semester, giving them time to adjust their courses, followed by a second draft of in-depth feedback, formulated after having attended almost the entire semester. This format was evaluated by means of a survey organised by CAPE and sent to the student body, teachers and section heads during the spring 2024 semester. We present an extract from the results of this survey.
The survey received responses from ~20% of the student body (1885 responses), ~25% of teachers (261 responses) and 14/19 sections. CAPE considers this sample to be representative of the EPFL population, given the diversity of sections, levels of study and roles of the respondents.
One of the first myths to be debunked by this survey is that of the correlation between the quality of a course and the rate of participation in the indicative feedback (the r-value is very low 😉 :
A bad course will therefore not tend to receive a lot of feedback, and vice versa, a low participation rate is not an indicator of the good quality of a course.
As far as students are concerned, the majority of respondents to the CAPE survey are those who actively participate in both indicative and in-depth feedback. The majority appreciate this feedback and find it adds value:
The current timing is also appreciated:
Two main points emerged: complaints about teachers not discussing the results of the indicative feedback in class, and a lack of questions about attendance. We therefore urge you to remind your teachers to discuss the results of the feedback in class! In fact, it is compulsory to do so.
The same goes for in-depth feedback, which is also appreciated:
A recurring and important remark that emerged concerned the lack of opportunity to give in-depth feedback after the course examination. Moreover, the addition of a question on whether the teacher had taken into account the comments made in the mid-term feedback was mentioned.
65% of teachers found the indicative feedback useful:
Full professors, compared to tenure-track assistant professors and other positions, find this feedback less useful. Opinions on the timing of this first feedback round are divided:
Some teachers felt that the 5th week was a good time to take action on their courses, while others felt that it was too early (not enough material seen, labs had not necessarily started, etc).
Concerning in-depth feedback, opinions on timetables differed from those of the student body:
In contrast to the student body, the majority of teachers prefer an in-depth feedback every 3-5 years.
Despite these divided opinions, at least 92% of teachers consult both feedbacks and discuss them with their TAs. 82% use the in-depth feedbacks to prepare the next iteration of their courses. However, the responses become much more negative when the explicit question of the contribution of feedback to course quality is asked:
In addition, several lecturers have pointed out that excessive demands for feedback from students lead to little feedback from their end, and feedback of low quality.
Finally, the sections find that the new format reduces administrative burdens, especially when it comes to monitoring problematic courses. However, comments were made about the low participation rate, as well as the late availability of feedback reports, which arrive after the course sheets for the following semester have been completed, and after the teachers have started working on their duties for the following semester.
In conclusion, the CAPE report on this survey highlights a number of positive and negative comments from students and teachers. The report has been forwarded to the new AVPE, which will be working on improving the format of course evaluations.