Course evaluation

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One of Chalmers’ guiding principles is World-Class Education and to ensure this, we constantly evaluate and review our education so that it lives up to our high standards. We do this by for example periodically reviewing our learning outcomes and our teaching so that they are aligned with current research in the subject area and pedagogics.

We use course surveys and meetings to gather opinions about the courses, which give us highly valuable input on how well we succeed in conveying the content of the course and how other aspects surrounding the course works. A course survey is sent out to all students that have attended a course and the results are later discussed by the examiner, student representatives and representatives from the programme at a course board meeting. In order to capture things, which could be adjusted during the course, there is also a meeting between the teachers and the student representatives halfway through the course.

The results of the course surveys as well as the minutes from the course board meetings are available to read below:

Course surveys and minutes from course evaluation meetings – Bachelor level programmes
Course surveys and minutes from course evaluation meetings – Master programmes

Your role in the course evaluation process

To ensure a good and rewarding course evaluation, it is important that you fill out the course survey after every course. The survey is sent directly to your e-mail address given in Ladok on the Monday after the exam week of each study period. In some courses, the teachers choose to send out the survey the last study week. You may then update your answers after the exam if you would like to, by simply opening the link in the original e-mail again. They survey comprises several questions which are common for all courses at Chalmers. The teachers can also add questions to the survey. The surveys for bachelor and master thesis work contain some different questions.

It is very important that the comments you write as feedback in the course survey are constructive so that they can be used for developing the course. The most important things to keep in mind is to be clear and to the point, and if possible, also suggest potential solutions. Also keep in mind that being clear and to the point is important also when giving positive feedback, so we can understand why something was good and hopefully use it in other courses. Below you will find a short movie clip describing how to give constructive feedback:

Video about feedback

Learn how to give constructive feedback.

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Each course has at least two student representatives. For some programmes, these are elected by the student union and for other programmes they are selected randomly or by the examiner. The representatives randomly selected will be informed by the examiner and will also get an e-mail about it three weeks after the course started.

The student representatives are expected to take part in a start-up meeting, one meeting in the middle of the course and in the final course evaluation meeting in the study period after the course, where thoughts and impressions about the course are shared. After participation in the final meeting, a voucher of 200 SEK is given to attending representatives as a thank you for the effort and engagement. The voucher can be used for course literature and office supply at Store/Kokboken.

What happens next?

When the meeting has been held and the minutes have been read through by the participants, the minutes will be published in our web portal and available via the search function on this page, typically at latest on the Friday of the exam week after the study period where the course was given. When published, the minutes will also automatically be sent to the course participants, to make it available to more students. We believe that if you find out what happens with your feedback, you are more likely to be motivated to fill out future course surveys.

The minutes from the course evaluation meeting is used by the teacher when developing the course for the next course round. The changes that are made in a course should always be communicated during the course introduction and be listed in the course memo. If the teachers should forget this, feel free to remind them.

If several things have not worked out in a course, the examiner is responsible to write an action plan. The plan should be checked and agreed on with the student representatives, the programme and the vice head of department for the department instructing the course before it is approved. Actions in the plan shall be carried out before the next course round.

Process description

The structure of Chalmers’ course evaluation process is described in this document.

Being a student representative

All courses at Chalmers with ten participants or more have between two and five student representatives. For some programmes, the Student union appoints representatives and for others the representatives are randomly selected among the course participants. In some cases, the examiner may also ask for voluntary representatives. If you are randomly selected as student representative for a course, the teacher will let you know in the beginning of the course.

Course surveys and minutes from course evaluation meetings for Bachelor level programmes

You can search for course surveys for all courses at Chalmers' bachelor level programmes (including courses in language and MTS/Master programmes). Select the programme you are interested in - and if you want to limit your search also academic year and study period - and click Show report.

You will now see a table with all courses matching your selection, together with answer frequency and a link to the survey without comments. If you wish to make a new search, click on the icon with a funnel in the tool bar.

After the course evaluation meeting has been held, you will also find a link to the minutes from that meeting at the top of the survey. If you are not logged on to Chalmers network (for example through Eduroam at one of our campuses, or through VPN), you must log in with your cid in order to access the minutes.

Please note that generally for Bachelor level courses, the course surveys and minutes from course evaluations are in Swedish.

Course surveys and minutes from course evaluation meetings for Master programmes

Here you can search for course surveys for all courses at Chalmers' Master programmes. Select the programme you are interested in - and if you want to limit your search also academic year and study period - and click Show report.

You will now see a table with all courses matching your selection, together with answer frequency and a link to the survey without comments. If you wish to make a new search, click on the icon with a funnel in the tool bar.

After the course evaluation meeting has been held, you will also find a link to the minutes from that meeting at the top of the survey. If you are not logged on to Chalmers network (for example through Eduroam at one of our campuses, or through VPN), you must log in with your cid in order to access the minutes.