No reason to be BLUE about these numbers!
In fact, we are really impressed with the greater-than-expected voluntary increase in the number of units and courses on campus giving student evaluations of teaching online in Blue! As of Fall 2019 73% of all UMaine lecture, labs and seminar classes are being evaluated in Blue and 68% of all academic units are using Blue exclusively! 100% of courses at UMM are using Blue. Over the last few months we have implemented a new process in Blue to upload courses that need to be evaluated. This new process is saving considerable administrative time compared to the old process. We are also working on implementing upgrades in Blue that will help us direct departmental reports to the correct people so we can move away from storing these reports in Box.
We have posted on our website a set of tips for increasing response rates. Among these strategies are:
- Please consider giving in-class time for your students to complete their online evaluations.
- Highlight the importance of evaluations.
- Remind students of online evaluations during the last two weeks of the semester.
- Send an email to students alerting them that they will be receiving an invitation to do an online course evaluation form. It would be helpful to include information that the email will be coming from Lisa Henderson.
The Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) has compiled a helpful document outlining methods for making the most of your end of semester evaluations. This is posted on our website at https://umaine.edu/oira/faculty-services/online-course-evaluations/.
Important Dates for Winter Term Online Evaluations
UM Orono
Faculty adding personalized questions (QP) Begins: January 11, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.
Faculty adding personalized questions (QP) Ends: January 13, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.
First email to students to fill out (FO) the evaluation: January 14, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.
Reminder to students to fill out (FO) the evaluation: January 16, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.
Evaluations end: January 16, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.
UM Machias
Faculty adding personalized questions (QP) Begins: January 10, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.
Faculty adding personalized questions (QP) Ends: January 12, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.
First email to students to fill out (FO) the evaluation: January 13, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.
Reminder to students to fill out (FO) the evaluation: January 15, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.
Evaluations end: January 15, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.
If your unit is still using paper evaluations, but interested in moving them online, please contact Ryan Weatherbee (ryan.a.weatherbee@maine.edu).