Q:
Hello. Our Continuing Education department is considering creating an evaluation on ourselves that we would give to our instructors. Is there any data or best practices that support this?
A:
Thanks for your question. We don't have any information specific to instructors evaluating a program but I will list some ideas and best practices below. Not many programs do this but I think its a great idea and will show your instructors you are interested in their opinions and working to make their teaching experience better.
Typically with surveys we recommend keeping them short (1-3 questions) to get the best response rate, though you will have some more leeway here since the instructors are more invested in the results. You can send these out either as a digital survey (survey monkey or simular), personal email (since there wont be as many as if you were surveying students) or a physical mailing, or a combination of those options.
Consider starting out with some text about how the survey/evaluation has been created to improve their teaching experience and you welcome all comments or suggestions.
We recommend the first question be something general like "could you please rate your teaching experience overall" and give them a 1-5 scale or something simular.
Next you can ask some more specific questions. When deciding on questions it is best to first think about what information you need or want back from them, and then develop questions aimed at getting that information. These could be things like:
At the end include a general comment section so they can include information about anything you may not have thought about.
We recommend only making the first question required as to get the best response rate but I would think instructors would be more than willing to fill out an evaluation since they have a lot invested in it.
Hopefully this helps, please let me know if you have any other questions.