January 23, 2018
Lindsey O’Reilly
As last semester drew to a close, students provided feedback on their lecturers, instructors and professors in Faculty Course Questionnaires. Students normally provide feedback on FCQ’s at the end of each semester; however, this time, it was online.
FCQ’s are surveys that students fill out in order to evaluate their teachers and class experience throughout the semester. UCCS experimented with an online platform in the 2016-17 academic year, implementing a fully online platform last semester.
Students gave evaluations of their teachers online through a link sent to their student emails instead of filling out a form in class. Professors were told to encourage their students to complete these evaluations, and some offered extra credit.
Students provided their feedback on the online FCQ system and how it benefited them or not.
The majority of students mentioned how the best part of the process was the convenience. Students, like junior game design and development major Nate Gorseline, were happy to fill out all evaluations at once within the span of a few minutes.
“It was nice to do them on my own time and it didn’t take away too much class time. I felt more comfortable answering them honestly,” said Gorseline.
However, if there was not an incentive to complete the FCQ at home, some students may not have completed the evaluation.
“I honestly prefer the physical paper version of the FCQ. I feel like that way more students take the FCQ as well. I only did one of my FCQ’s last semester only because my professor offered extra credit if over 80 percent of the class completed it,” said junior Hannah Knoll.
Some students, like freshman Hannah Lovin, didn’t think the online FCQ’s were specific enough.
“I appreciated that I could do all FCQ’s at the same time. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that there wasn’t a direct question on what the professor could improve on. There should be a different comment section where we can give direct feedback rather than yes or no questions or rating questions,” said Lovin.
Other students agreed that in-class versions of FCQ’s are easier than online because it provides better directions. A few students agreed that the new FCQ system did not provide clear instructions to students. Some students didn’t know there were any changes being made.
The new FCQ system is still in development. For more information on the new platform or past FCQ results, visit uccs.edu/ir/standard-reports/fcqs.html.