Evaluate Your Course

Now that you have built your course, it is time to begin evaluating it. Evaluation can often be a complex process because there are a large variety of inputs (e.g., design of assignments, factors influencing instruction, student experiences and interactions), indicators (e.g., student evaluations, test scores, observations) as well as questions about when to collect information, how to combine it, and what it all means.

While this complexity can be intimidating, there are several ways to begin systematically evaluating your course and making improvements. This includes understanding:

• What you can do before, during, and after instruction
• The types of data to consider and where it can come from
• Considerations for combining this information and how to make changes

While the evaluation process can start simply, with as few data points as you are comfortable with, it is important that you have a plan and are systematic about how you will evaluate your course. To support this, we offer the following process:

When you have finished evaluating and improving your course, the next phase is to begin teaching your course.