Course Insights FAQs
Course Insights FAQs
- Why does the University see a need to create Course Insights?
- How was the content of Course Insights chosen?
- Who will have access to this information?
- Which items from CIF will be shown?
- How will the student feedback results be shown?
- How effective is access to the Student Feedback section of Course Insights as an incentive for participation in CIF?
Why does the University see a need to create Course Insights?
Students seek and deserve to receive accurate and comprehensive information about course offerings to inform their process of course selection. Even when students are registering for a required course, they benefit from having current and accurate information about the course at the time of registration. Today, students seek out course information from a limited set of sources:
| Information Source | Limitations of Source |
|---|---|
| Course Description in PATH or NOVO | Course descriptions are often written by committee, are routinely out of date, and rarely reflect the instructor’s unique vision for the course. |
| Course Insights | Course Insights presents summaries of student perceptions of the courses and instructors they have had. |
| Academic Advisors | Academic advisors are well-versed with degree requirements but are often unable to convey detailed information about individual electives taught at the University. |
| Peers who have previously taken course | The opinions of one or two students are anecdotal and may not be representative of the entire class. |
The University has created Course Insights to provide a single source of reliable and concise information to help inform the course selection process.
How was the content of Course Insights chosen?
From spring 2005 through spring 2006, the Committee for Better Enhanced Class Search, composed of students and faculty, considered the kinds of information that students would find useful in selecting courses. The committee attempted to identify the most useful kinds of viable information that could be compiled systematically and would avoid creating a system in which students would be likely to search for “easy” courses. Regarding the feedback from students previously enrolled in courses, additional testing determined that five agree-disagree statements would suffice. The committee proposed the Course Insights tool to Academic Council in Spring 2006, with the understanding that academic advisors would continue to play a critical role in helping students choose courses.
Who will have access to this information?
Course Insights data are available only to the instructor of the course and students. Students can view the aggregated responses within the Course Insights tool. Instructors will see the responses to the Course Insights questions on their CIF Blue report(s).
Which items from CIF Blue will be shown?
The five items selected by the Committee for Better Enhanced Class Search were the following:
- The instructor was respectful of students and their points of view.
- The instructor was accessible to students outside class time.
- The instructor effectively promoted my learning in this area.
- The assignments and activities of this course effectively promoted my learning in this area.
- I felt engaged in this course.
The items are introduced within CIF Blue through the following statement:
The following items were drafted by students with the intention that the responses to these items will be available to students in future semesters to help inform course selection. While your individual responses will be anonymous to your instructor, all responses for these questions will be aggregated and visible to your instructor. They will not be used in the official administrative evaluation of teaching.
The response scale is as follows:
- Strongly agree
- Somewhat agree
- Somewhat disagree
- Strongly disagree
- Not sure/No opinion
How will student feedback results be shown?
For each of the five items, a bar graph shows the average percentage distribution of responses for the particular instructor-course combination for all times that it was included in CIF Blue within the past six semesters, not including summer sessions. The section also shows the average response rate, total number of sections included and total valid N. No average scores or other statistics are shown.
How effective is access to the Student Feedback section of Course Insights as an incentive for participation in CIF Blue?
Survey research at Notre Dame revealed that 70% of students — undergrads, graduate and professional — would be motivated to complete their CIF Blue surveys if they could see, in subsequent semesters, how students answered some CIF Blue items. The value of this incentive has been confirmed in repeated meetings with student groups. That is, having access to the Student Feedback section when a student is at his or her own computer and logged on to InsideND is much more convenient and provides more timely information than the alternatives. Access to Student Feedback is, at the current time, the only material incentive offered for participation in the CIF Blue. A culture of responsible feedback as a critical factor in the improvement of teaching is also a powerful incentive. In addition, encouragement from instructors increases response rates. What matters most for engaging students in responsible feedback is the sense that their feedback is a contributing element to the improvement of instruction.