University of Oregon students have the opportunity to fill out the new end-of-course student experience surveys this week. The surveys have been modified from previous terms’ course evaluations to protect students’ anonymity and accentuate the student-teacher collaboration in education.

The new optional surveys ask students to consider several teaching and learning elements, such as a course’s level of difficulty, the support they received from the instructor and the relevance of course content. They will also be asked to rank which among a list of elements was most helpful and could most be improved. 

Students are also expected to consider how they support their own learning. The survey prompts students to answer questions about how consistent their attendance was and how often they interacted with the professor outside of class. 

Survey responses are hosted by a third-party company to ensure students’ responses are anonymous, according to the Office of the Registrar’s website.

The changes come after 12 years of online course evaluations at UO, according to the registrar’s website. In the past, students used a numerical scale to rate their professors’ performance in several categories. Some professors didn’t think the numerical scale was very useful. Kate Myers, an instructor in the English department, told The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Students would often just go down the line and hit all fives or all fours or whatever without really thinking about it.”

Related: “Faculty senate aims to combat racist and sexist course evaluations”

The University Senate created a task force to address the issue of flawed course evaluations in 2017. The task force was a response to studies at universities across the country that women and professors of color consistently received lower evaluations from students.
Surveys are available on DuckWeb until 6 p.m. Friday.