Course evaluations provide administrators with essential insights into course strength and faculty performance. You can also use them to ensure your professors uphold your institution’s values and standards in the classroom with diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging experience questions. However, many schools underutilize this question type, losing out on the rich, insightful data they can provide.
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court verdict outlawing considerations of race as a factor in college admissions, higher ed institutions are rethinking approaches to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in today’s legal landscape. As further legal restrictions on DEIB policies in universities gain momentum in several states, it’s more important than ever to provide equitable support for all students while being strategic when approaching these questions.
DEIB questions on course evaluations ask students to evaluate how their professors and courses interact with diverse topics and create a safe, comfortable, and open learning environment for all students. Students will answer DEIB questions alongside other questions about academic and structural support in the classroom on their course evaluations toward the end of the semester.
DEIB questions can prompt students to reflect and provide insight on several factors, including whether instructors:
On course evaluations, students could measure how well they thought their instructors met these DEIB experiences, their satisfaction with their professor’s performance and efforts, or share written feedback through comments and short answer sections.
Your students are powerful resources when trying to improve your courses and programs at your institution. Course evaluations can give higher education institution administrators more direct access to student data and feedback about your programs and professors.
DEIB questions are even more critical because of their sensitive nature. Your school should provide a safe and welcoming student experience, encouraging them to thrive in their studies. Course evaluations that include DEIB questions can help you understand how to foster more inclusive and accessible classrooms and programs.
This information can also help institutions and administrators understand student satisfaction and improve retention. Increased diversity and inclusion by professors in lectures can help students feel more seen and supported on campus, allowing them to feel like part of the community. Students who feel they belong are more likely to stay with your institution through graduation.
Despite their importance, DEIB questions are often rare in course evaluations. In a 2022 study that assessed over 175,800 course evaluation questions from higher education institutions nationwide, only 0.15% fell under the DEIB category. This statistic shows that schools do not prioritize this data type and often overlook or neglect it.
While the overall priority for DEIB questions on course evaluations is low, schools are increasing the frequency with which they include this question category. In 2011, only 15 of 310 schools had DEIB questions on their course evaluation. This rate increased to 221 schools in 2021. Administrators are beginning to see the power behind DEIB questions on course evaluations, so this trend may continue. On the other hand, administrators may need to adapt their approach to DEIB questions to keep advancing DEIB at their institutions amidst legal and social challenges.
Because of their rarity, professors are usually the ones adding DEIB questions to course evaluations. Research shows that faculty were responsible for 63.5% of DEIB questions on course evaluations, while institutions only included 11.5%. Many professors are motivated to make their classrooms, processes, and curricula more accessible and inclusive, prompting them to add these questions to evaluations.
While individual engagement can offer professors specific feedback they can use to drive personal improvement efforts, administrators are missing out on robust data when they do not include DEIB questions on standardized course evaluations. Administrators can use DEIB feedback to measure and understand diversity, inclusion, and accessibility on an institutional level.
Surveys and course evaluations are full of actionable data, allowing you to target improvement efforts to specific areas in your school. For example, if one field of study reports lower satisfaction with diversity efforts than your other programs, you can direct your inclusivity efforts toward that department for better resource efficiency.
DEIB questions are important for ensuring all students enjoy equitable learning in an inclusive environment. However, these questions are sensitive by nature, so approaching them with care is key to getting meaningful results without alienating students. Follow these eight tips when incorporating DEIB questions into your evaluations.
Vague questions and instructions on course evaluations can lead to unclear responses. Many students interpret DEIB topics differently based on their unique backgrounds and experiences, causing more variation and undermining the usefulness of the response data you gather.
To avoid this confusion, define what your school means by terms like diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, accessibility, and others. If you organize your survey questions into categories, you can outline these definitions at the beginning of the DEIB section, allowing students to quickly refer back to terms and keep definitions in mind when working through that portion of the course evaluation.
However, when providing definitions, you should still aim to keep your content broad enough to include a variety of experiences. Avoid having leading questions so that you allow students to accurately and comfortably share their experiences in the classroom and with faculty members. Definitions should provide clarity rather than restrict responses.
For example, you could define an inclusive program as one that embraces students of all identities and provides the support they need to succeed. This is better than a definition focused on including all “races,” which would ignore experiences of inclusion or exclusion based on other factors like ethnicity, ability, or gender.
Course evaluations are essential quantitative data sources for administrators, but you can get more specific information about classrooms, lectures, and faculty with qualitative data. Quantitative data on course evaluations often involves students ranking how well or frequently they thought their professors upheld institution and program values, from workplace preparedness to DEIB standards. However, these questions leave little room for students to expand on nuances or provide examples of what they witnessed.
Qualitative data on course evaluations allows students to share their observations through more descriptive information. Administrators can use this data type to gain more insight into student perspectives and target DEIB improvement efforts more effectively.
You can integrate qualitative data into your course evaluations by offering comment sections after quantitative data questions. Comments allow students to contextualize their responses while giving administrators access to more detailed information.
You could also incorporate open-ended DEIB questions asking students to provide examples of how professors worked DEIB standards into the classroom. You can focus on various initiatives, like more diverse materials or accessible tools, to better understand how professors apply and integrate standards into their regular teaching practices.
Reflecting on past experiences can trigger traumatic memories for students, especially those in minority groups, so it’s important to be supportive in your approach to sensitive questions. Institutions often have systems to handle discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, or ability and provide sensitive counseling when necessary. However, students may not know about these resources.
At the end of your DEIB section, consider adding a statement encouraging students who would like to report harassment and discrimination or need support to reach out. You can leave the contact information for the offices that handle these cases. Even a short statement can empower and inform students about what your institution can do to support them.
Many students overlook their evaluations because they think they are unnecessary or a low priority. To overcome these assumptions, it’s important to provide clear, consistent messaging about why these evaluations matter.
As your evaluation period approaches, communicate the importance of evaluation data to your institution and professors. You can explain how data impacts their lives, shaping policies for the next academic period and driving improvements to the best and most inclusive education. Cite examples of changes your institution has already made based on survey data, like introducing new accessibility resources or diversifying the perspectives represented in the faculty curriculum. While most faculty understand the importance of course evaluations, you should also communicate the benefits to their career.
You can also encourage survey completion by offering incentives. For example, enter students who complete their surveys into a lucky draw to win prize bundles. Combine these incentives with clear communication about how you aim to use survey data to make your campus more inclusive to ensure students get the message.
When creating surveys, make sure they’re brief. If you include too many questions, students may experience survey fatigue and quit the evaluation. Survey fatigue and incomplete evaluations can prevent faculty and administrators from receiving important student data. You can combat survey fatigue by only including the most relevant questions.
Each semester, you can tailor your questions to your DEIB growth areas by asking about values you recently implemented and areas where you need improvement. Asking about student perceptions of past initiatives can help you chart progress toward your goal while asking about other DEIB topics can highlight where you should direct new changes for the upcoming semester.
Urge faculty to set aside class time for students to complete evaluations. When students are responsible for submitting course evaluations on their own time, they sometimes forget about them. Students have hectic lives, juggling their classes and homework with jobs, internships, research, clubs, and personal lives. Dedicating class time to course evaluations prevents them from accidentally overlooking surveys, improving your response rates.
If your faculty members use this method, you can prevent unintentional influence by asking them to leave the room while students complete their surveys. They should also clearly explain how the evaluation system protects anonymity.
Demographic information can add context to your data. It can help you determine if certain student populations receive less support than others or if there are disparities in outcomes. For example, if minority students report classrooms being less inclusive, faculty may need more support to address these specific gaps in inclusivity. With comprehensive demographic information, you can direct better results for your underrepresented minority groups on campus who feel less comfortable sharing information or reporting incidents.
The current legal and social landscape in many places is challenging for conventional DEIB approaches, especially affirmative action related to race. Aim to keep an institutional finger on the pulse of what is legal in your state and how you can frame questions to minimize the risk of alienating your students. You may need to adapt your approach to DEIB questions as policies and attitudes shift.
When it comes to demographic data, include “prefer not to say” responses to respect students who are uncomfortable disclosing certain demographic details. Federal law still leaves room for demographic questions about race in evaluations, provided that race is not a criterion for program admission or other benefits. But this is a thorny topic, and you may prefer to focus on other demographic categories like language, cultural background, and financial aid status. Provide open-ended questions about DEIB topics like receiving adequate support and having all student identities respected in class to ensure your faculty is hearing out students with concerns about racial equity.
When approaching course evaluations, you can streamline processes and optimize results with the right tools. Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys is a comprehensive data collection, management, and analysis software solution designed for higher education institutions. This solution stores all your survey responses in a centralized database for increased visibility and accessibility, offering valuable insights about your student body and faculty performance.
Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys integrates with your institution’s learning management system (LMS) for increased functionality and optimization. Students can access course evaluations and surveys from their phones, allowing them to complete them in class if professors allocate time. With increased access, students can efficiently complete their course evaluations and increase data for your institution.
Request a demo today and discover how Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys can foster more improvements on your campus.
