Recommendations to improve Course and Teacher Evaluations

The committee to review McMaster’s system for evaluating teaching in relation to instructional quality, instructional improvement and course administration has released its report.

The Provost formed the committee to consult with the wider campus community and to provide recommendations to enable the continuous improvement of teaching at McMaster, with a particular emphasis on innovation in teaching and learning.

Its report can be found here:

http://www.mcmaster.ca/vpacademic/documents/Course_Teacher_Evaluation_Phase_2017_Aug_23_revs.pdf

Among the recommendations is a new approach to teaching evaluations that moves away from reliance on a single summative question to a linked set of questions that will offer a more robust view of teaching effectiveness, and suggestions to increase student response rates by raising awareness about course evaluations.