Course evaluation at WU underwent a major update in the academic year 2019/2020 with the participation of students.  Students provided feedback on the existing course evaluation in several focus groups and also participated directly in working group for questionnaire development.

The most important innovations:

• A technological update for optimal support of mobile devices: the course evaluation can be carried out online during class (e.g. via link) as well as on mobile devices (e.g. via QR code).

• Optimization of the usability as well as the evaluation software to further improve the use of the evaluation on mobile devices.

• Informing students about evaluation results after release.

• Redesign of the questionnaire and better positioning of the open questions for targeted feedback

• Expansion of the range of feedback methods implemented online through Fast Feedback

The questionnaire was revised as part of the further development of the course evaluation. The primary purpose of the questionnaire is to help improve courses continuously. In order to optimize the collection of your feedback, the following aspects have been updated:

• The open feedback is particularly helpful for concrete improvements in courses for teachers. In order to get more feedback from students, they were placed at the beginning of the questionnaire.

• The success of a course depends on various factors. In order to be able to map these, obligatory questions on the following dimensions were added: the framework conditions of the course, the course instructors, the students and the examination and assessment culture.

• Flexibility in designing and modifying elective modules and elective questions helps solicit targeted feedback to improve the course.

• Questions about the course requirement and students’ recommendation help to get a better overview of the course.

• The evaluation is optimized for online use on mobile devices and simplifies giving feedback. Teachers can share a short link or a QR code with you.

If you have any comments about the course evaluation, please send an email to evaluierung@wu.ac.at. We appreciate your feedback!

In order to ensure that every course at WU is evaluated regularly while mitigating the risk of evaluation fatigue, bachelor's and master's courses alternate on an annual basis. In addition, each teacher can request to have his or her course evaluated voluntarily at any point in the cycle.

The evaluation cycle at WU:

• Academic year 2020/21: Bachelor courses

• Academic year 2021/22: Master courses

• Academic year 2022/23: Bachelor courses

• Academic year 2023/24: Master courses

Your course instructors can choose from different publishing options. Depending on the settings, different sections of the results will be shown to students:

• No publication: The data is not displayed to WU students.

• Low: WU students can access results as to gender, course requirements, and course recommendation.

• Medium: In addition to the results available at a low level, all mandatory questions (see above) are displayed to WU students.

• High: WU students are also shown optional questions.

The open questions are not available at any of the publishing options.

You can view the results of the course evaluation via the online access of the evaluation platform as soon as they have been released by the instructor. In addition, you will be informed as soon as evaluation results are available for a course you have attended.

The course evaluation can be integrate at several different points in time during the semester, to get the most out of it:

• At the beginning of the course, the lessons learned from the course evaluation of the last cohort can be discussed to make changes in the course design visible.

• After 2/3 of the course, the results can be discussed and reacted to directly within the same course. At this point, space for constructive discussion can be created to actively involve you in the implementation of the feedback.

• Furthermore, the results can also stimulate an exchange between you in order to strengthen the feedback culture.

• At the institutional level, the feedback culture is lived in conversations between faculty and the respective responsible persons supported by WU's institutional reporting.

A detailed description of the process can be found at TLAC.

The evaluation results are anonymous in any case. The completed paper and pencil evaluation forms are also digitized in the Department for Evaluation and Quality Enhancement and are not returned to the instructors. Your instructors will receive the results in the form of a course-level analysis.  

You can give and receive feedback in different forms. To ensure that your feedback is constructive and will benefit both the receiver and the sender, it should follow certain rules.

Good feedback is:

• as specific as possible

• descriptive and avoids judgment

• informative

• clearly formulated and factual

• well dosed

• subjective

Examples of constructive feedback:

"Due to the size of the room, the instructor was difficult to comprehend, possibly the use of a microphone would help."

"It would be very helpful if feedback was given on each partial performance. Without commentary, the scoring is not clearly comprehensible."

Further and comparative notes:

• Hochschuldidaktikzentrum der Universitäten des Landes Baden-Württemberg - https://www.hochschuldidaktik.uni-freiburg.de/koll_hospi/checklisten/feedback

• Erwachsenenpädagogik Universität Leipzig - https://home.uni-leipzig.de/didakrom/Methoden/Methoden%20zur%20Auswertung/Feedback.pdf

Beyond course evaluation, feedback culture is an essential topic for teaching and learning at WU. For feedback during class, teachers can use the Fast Feedback offered at WU. Further information on Fast Feedback and tips on how teachers can use feedback in teaching can be found in the Teaching & Learning Academy at WU.