Student Evaluation of Teaching

1. Courses with interim assessment in the current module
   *If a course has multiple interim assessments, it will be included multiple times in the SET.
2. Course instructors
   *All teachers who have conducted lectures, seminars, practical classes, and workshops will be included in the SET
3. Online courses used in these subjects
   *If the format of the course includes their use
4. Projects and their supervisors
   *SET covers projects, which have been included in students' individual curricula and reflected in their gradebooks (according to a special schedule)
5. Courses that have already started, but include interim assessment for future modules
   *If a course runs for several modules, it is possible to provide textual feedback after its first module

Course with interim assessment in a current module:

Numerical scores (1 to 5 + «Difficult to answer»):
1. Practical value of the course for your future career
2. Practical value of the course for broadening your horizons and diversified personal development
3. Novelty of knowledge gained in this course
4. Difficulty of the course for its successful completion

Open-ended questions:
a. What do you find useful about the content and organization of this course (effective approaches, interesting topics, forms of assessment, specific practical significance, etc.)
b. What would you suggest to change in the content and organization of this course (what is needed, what seems unnecessary or inefficient, etc.)

The instructors:

Numerical scores (1 to 5 + «Difficult to answer»)::
1. Clarity of requirements to students
2. Clarity and consistency of study materials
3. Communication between the teacher and the audience
4. Teacher’s availability for extracurricular discussion of any academic or scientific matters

Open-ended questions:
a. What do you like about the work of this teacher (successful practices and formats, interaction style, etc.)
b. What would you suggest to change in the work of this teacher (what is needed, what seems unnecessary, etc.)

Online courses (MOOCs):

Numerical scores (1 to 5 + «Difficult to answer»):
1. Practical value of this online course for your future career
2. Practical value of this online course for broadening your horizons and diversified personal development
3. Novelty of knowledge gained in this online course
4. Clarity of requirements to students in this online course
5. Clarity and consistency of study materials in this online course
6. Difficulty of this online course for its successful completion

Open-ended question:
a. Any comments or suggestions regarding this online course (optional)

Project activities:

Numerical scores (1 to 5 + «Difficult to answer»):
1. Practical value of the project for your future career
2. Practical value of the project for broadening your horizons and diversified personal development
3. Novelty of knowledge gained in this project
4. The quality of the project organization
5. Difficulty of the project for its successful completion

Open-ended question:
a. Any comments or suggestions regarding this project(optional)

Courses with interim assessment in future modules:

Comments and suggestions on this subject or its teachers’ work

General organization of the educational process:

Any comments or suggestions regarding organization of the educational process in general (optional)

For each criterion in the closed questions, students should provide a score from 1 to 5 (where “1” is the lowest grade, and “5” is the highest grade; the criterion “Difficulty of the course for its successful completion” is scored differently: “1” means the course is very easy, and “5” – the course is very difficult to pass). If a student cannot assess the course or the teacher, or if they do not want to express their opinion, they can choose the option “Difficult to answer”. In this instance, their score will not be considered when calculating the average value and other statistics.

All answers for open-ended questions are cleared of trash (like “No comment”, “-”, and so on), foul language, and personal insults, and then sent to the recipients: teachers receive comments on courses and their personal participation, while managers get the same data + comments on the overall organization of the educational process.

1. To minimize the potential correlation between student and teacher grades

Students must complete the course evaluation no later than the last day before the examination period (not knowing the final grades they will receive for the course). Teachers, in turn, do not learn their about their scores from the course evaluation until after the start of the next module. By not knowing their grades in advance, both students and teachers can evaluate each other more objectively and thoroughly.

2. Since it is impossible to effectively organize the course evaluation after the exam week

Organizing a survey with more than 50,000 respondents is quite a complex process, which requires constant attention from coordinators, study offices, and technical support staff. The largest waves of course evaluations take place before the winter and summer exam weeks, which are followed by long vacations. Therefore, it is impossible to organize course evaluations at the beginning of the next module since other tasks overlap (both for students and staff), and not everyone will be able to fill out the survey during their vacation period.

3. The main aim of SET is to gather feedback on the course content and teaching quality, not the assessment tools used

An exam is not the only part of a course. Moreover, if issues arise during an exam, they are likely not the only ones that may emerge during the entire course. Thus, students can provide comprehensive feedback even before the interim assessment, whereas instructors and administrators can receive information about potential issues regarding course organization without any exams. If something goes seriously wrong during the exam, there are other tools available for addressing these issues (e.g., contacting the programme academic supervisor or using the “Hotline”).