The OEI Rubric for online courses highly recommends that faculty give students an opportunity to give anonymous feedback about the course. It’s part of the regular effective contact that is required in online courses.
I set up a short anonymous survey about four weeks into a course to see how students are faring in the early stages of a class and then I do another one at the end of the course to get feedback from students about their overall experience with the class. I ask a combination of multiple choice and open-ended written response questions. It is easy enough to get the results from the multiple-choice but if a survey is anonymous, the written responses do not show up in Speedgrader. Instead you get this message:
This student has submitted an assignment
This student’s responses are hidden because this assignment is anonymous
Here are two files that can help with this issue –
How to set up anonymous survey and give extra credit
How to get written responses to surveys
Thanks to Jackie Schwegel for the the tech tip idea! If you have any questions about Canvas, let me or Jenn Azzaro know!
–Lynn Hawley
Completing the POCR review process for my Psych 02 (Statistics for the Social Sciences) course was a challenging and rewarding experience. The process made me view my course through a new equity lens to make sure all students had the accessibility to be successful in the course. I learned a lot from the process and my skills on CANVAS were sharpened. I am able to use the information I learned from the POCR review and apply it to other courses that I teach.
I would highly recommend the POCR process for any instructors seeking to take their online course to the next level. Having gone through the process twice, I can say with confidence that my online courses are more organized and student-centered than ever. This process really allows you to dive deeply into online learning and provides you with the opportunity to develop a course that takes into consideration the varying learning styles of students.
I thought my classes were pretty well organized and dialed in until I went through the POCR process. I was able to raise my online course to a much higher standard. The process is very structured and clear and for me it revealed several areas that needed improvement. The support team were all amazing and very well organized and more importantly, they understand how challenging it is to design a class while teaching. I would encourage every instructor who teaches online to consider the POCR process.
Moving my Eng 1B through POCR made me rethink every choice I make in my online teaching. Is this the most effective way to structure a lecture? Is this the most impactful and relatable assignment? Have I taken enough steps to ensure that no student gets lost? Looking at my class with fresh eyes has made my class more organized, accessible, and engaging for my students.
At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic required faculty to become proficient at executing virtual instruction, I found the POCR process to be invaluable to my goal of designing effective hybrid and asynchronous courses that supported my students’ success. I frequently receive positive feedback from students describing their appreciation for varied elements of our courses spanning content presentation, interaction, assessment, and accessibility which I attribute largely to the professional development that I have received through the POCR process.
By going through the POCR review process, my class is more accessible, presentable, and organized. Students liked accessing this class which was organized and manageable.
