Using Mid-term Evaluation Surveys to Guide Your Online Instruction

As an online instructor, it is important to use mid-term evaluation surveys to guide your online instruction. This will help you improve the course for your students. In this blog post, I will discuss the benefits of using mid-term evaluation surveys and provide tips on how to make them effective.

The purpose of a mid-term evaluation survey is to determine how students feel about the course, what's working and what can be improved. The results of the survey can be used to improve the course for all students. Some benefits of using a mid-term evaluation survey include:

1) It can help identify struggling students early on so that they can get help before it’s too late.

This is important because it can prevent students from failing the class, which could have been prevented with a little more support and instruction. It also helps online instructors provide better service to their current students by identifying any issues they may be having in the course. Often time, students who are struggling won't reach out for help on their own. Including a mid-term survey allows them to share areas where they are struggling and provides an opportunity to do so anonymously.

2) You can make changes to the course that benefit the currently enrolled students.

One common complaint that students have about course evaluations is that their suggestions and feedback only benefit future students, not the students currently enrolled in the course.

That’s where a mid-term evaluation survey comes in handy: It allows students to anonymously share areas of struggle and provides information on what can be improved so that currently enrolled students can benefit. So don't wait until the end of the semester to find out what your students think about your course-- use a mid-term evaluation survey now so that you can make changes before it's too late!

3) It can give you an idea of how well the course is meeting the objectives you set out.

While I engaged in many curriculum development initiatives that helped me to map my course objectives to my course assignments, one thing I was not evaluating was whether my students felt they were meeting the objectives. Creating mid-term evaluation surveys can also allows students to provide feedback on how well they think the course is meeting the objectives. Getting a student's perspective on this can be really helpful in making changes to the course.

Are you interested in creating a mid-term evaluation survey, but not sure where to start? Check out this Masterclass called Using Mid-Term Assessments to Enhance Your Online Course. In this Masterclass we'll address the following points:

• Why a mid-term assessment is important
• Decide when to conduct your assessment
• Determine what you want students to assess
• Take the time to assess your students

Do you use mid-term evaluation surveys in your online course? Share your ideas in The Online Educator Facebook Group.