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Dr. Judy Yip-Reyes, director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, at the request of the Navajo County Community College District Governing Board gave a full review of the fall 2018 Northland Pioneer College (NPC) student survey responses, including negative comments and suggestions within the student feedback, at the May 21 meeting.
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Yip-Reyes noted that in that survey, slightly over half of the 420 classes received student survey responses with an overall response rate of 47.8 percent.
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“Although this response rate is considered an improvement from previous semesters,” said Yip-Reyes, “The results are not representative of all student’s opinions.”
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Six areas relating to course specifics were put out to the students that included: the learning goals of the course are clearly defined; my interest in the subject has increased as a consequence of this course; I have found the course intellectually challenging and stimulating; required texts are valuable; additional course materials are clear and helpful; and assignments contribute to knowledge and understanding of the subject.
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While more than 80 percent of the students rated five of the six categories as an “agree” or “strongly agree”, there was an overall negative rating of 6.6 percent, for those students who “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed”.
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The results were similar for the instructor ratings, which included 10 attributes from knowledge of the course to having a genuine interest in the success of the students. “More than 85 percent of the students rated six of the 10 categories as “agree” or “strongly agree”,” said Yip-Reyes. “While the negative ratings had an overall average of 5.7 percent.”
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The students also had an opportunity to provide written comments that were grouped as positive comments or negative comments and/or suggestions.
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In the course specific comments there were a total of 993 comments made and of those 839 were positive, while 154 were negative or contained suggestions.
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For instructor specific comments there were 979 with 926 being positive and 53 being negative or containing suggestions.
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Yip-Reyes noted, “Negative comments, when interpreted and used properly, can be considered as opportunities for improvement in teaching and course design.”
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Board Member James Matteson asked, “When a specific comment is made about an instructor, does the instructor get that comment?” To which Yip-Reyes said that the comments are given to the dean who can then go over the comments with the faculty member and ensure that appropriate actions are taken.
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Matteson went on to say, “While this is really a pretty good report card for the college, those that are not quite up to the standards of their cohorts should be given the opportunity to understand that they are not quite making it.”
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“The survey is an opportunity for the students to have their own voice and be able to share it,” continued Yip-Reyes. “What we are looking for are patterns over time that identify the teaching styles and formats that need to be improved or updated. The dean will see if there is a pattern within their faculty and have an opportunity to create change.”
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Board Member Derrick Leslie shared, “While it is good that the majority of the time we are getting good marks, I think there is some wisdom in the opinion of the defense and that is what I like to see. And to see that it is being implemented into a corrective action plan.”
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Some of the negative comments or suggestions regarding assignments included: “Explain more with examples.” “Online assignments were repetitive compared to those printed in textbook.” “Prefer to complete homework quizzes online, can know right away what is missed.”
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Regarding coarse loads: “Too much information without knowing what to focus on.” “Class time not long enough to cover material thoroughly.” “A lot of information very quickly, making the final exam overwhelming.”
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Teaching style was another area: “Prefer more information related to real life experiences.” “Want more actual lessons and discussion of reading materials in class.” “Redoing of quizzes six times was excessive; prefer to get different problems in order to understand subject better.” “More class time to work on problems.”
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In other business, the board:
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* Approved support in the application process for a Northern Arizona Healthcare Foundation Grant to assist with initial costs of the new Surgical Technology program.
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* Approved the contract to Last Call Media for improvements to the NPC website at a cost of $150 per hour.
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* Approved the 2021-22 academic calendar.
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* Approved the annual renewal of NPC’s Student Information System with Jenzabar at a total price of $239,166, which includes sales tax.
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* Approved Policy 1932 for Procurement.
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