Online Course Evaluations in the Digital Age

Abstract

Recently new ways of administering course evaluations have moved to an online format. There have been advantages and drawbacks to online course evaluations as compared to paper-pencil evaluations. One of the greatest concerns with online course evaluations is the lower response rates compared to paper-pencil surveys. This research study aims to find out whether those concerns are legitimate by examining the students' response rate to a new online course evaluation implemented at a small size public university in the United States. Investigating variables such as class format, class level, and class size, there were no statistically significant results, suggesting these factors did not play a role in students' response rates. What potential factors may have played a role in these results will be further discussed.