Procedure final evaluations: Vetsuisse Faculty

Based on their evaluation plan, the faculty's QM determines which courses have to be evaluated in the upcoming semester and informs the lecturers accordingly. In addition, lecturers can have their courses evaluated on a voluntary basis.

In a next step, lecturers plan 2-3 dates for the survey while preparing a course: a date for the survey to conducted, possibly a back-up date, and a date for sharing and discussing the results with the students. Ideally, students will be given about 15 minutes to complete the questionnaires in the beginning of a session. The surveys for final evaluations should be conducted toward the end of the semester (starting week 11 of the semester). For higher response rates, it is strongly recommended to conduct online surveys in the (possibly virtual) presence of the lecturer. This requires an internet connection on site as well as a laptop, tablet or smartphone ("bring your own device"). 

Once planning is complete, final evaluations can be registered. Information on the registration procedure is available here.

If necessary, the Evaluation Office sends a reminder to the faculty a few days before the registration deadline.

After successful registration, the Evaluation Office prepares the questionnaires (using the indicated method for data collection) for the final evaluation. At the Vetsuisse Faculty, surveys are normally set up as online surveys with a general link.

After the survey has been generated, the Evaluation Office emails the access link to the survey to the faculty's Registrar's Office. The link is then forwarded to the lecturers and/or students at the appropriate time.

In a first step of an online survey lecturers should inform their students about the upcoming evaluation. Students should be made aware of the date of the evaluation and asked to have their tablet, notebook or smartphone ready.

Once the students have received the general access link, the survey can be conducted on the scheduled date. Students should be given a few minutes to fill in the questionnaires in the beginning of the session on the scheduled day.

The survey will remain open for 24h after the scheduled evaluation date, in order to give absent students the opportunity to participate in the survey as well, for example.

Immediately after the online survey has been closed lecturers receive an automatic summary of the survey results and the students' comments (report) as a PDF file via email. The report contains detailed information about the rating of the results as well as a comparison profile line. The report also indicates the performance level the evaluation result achieved.

With questions about the results or the evaluation itself, lecturers are welcome to contact the Evaluation Office.

If the results raise concerns regarding teaching in higher education, the Educational Development Unit will be happy to assist. Please contact Mr. Roman Suter.

If reports aren't sent out within a day, please get in touch with the Evaluation Office immediately.

In order to close the first control loop, the conceptual framework stipulates that results of the survey, the insights and potential improvement measures are shared and discussed with the students before the end of the semester. Lecturers may use the presentation slide on the last page of the report for this purpose.

The students' feedback may be an incentive to make certain adjustments to future courses.

The second control loop specifies that, for courses which ranked as «insufficient» in a final evaluation, a follow-up interim and final evaluation is mandatory the next time they are taught. These measures are implemented by the faculty's QM department, which informs the lecturers in question about further steps.