Gathering Evidence: SurveyMonkey.com

The Problem:
I want to survey the students about their opinions and attitudes about the current Computer Applications course, but I don't want to feel that they can't be honest with their answers if I can tell who wrote what. I was thinking of asking another teacher to help administer a survey or interview specific students.

The Solution:
Wendy suggested using an online survey. She recommended a website called SurveyMonkey.com. I created a free account with SurveyMonkey that allowed me to make a 10 question survey and assess to the results. My questions included:

1. What year are you?
2. Do you think the keyboarding practice this term has been helpful?
3. Which WORD assignment was he most beneficial?
4. Describe your overall impressions of the assignments from the Office 2003 TEXTBOOK.
5. Describe your overall impressions of the group projects.
6. Which EXCEL skills did you find the most beneficial?
7. On a scale of 1-5 rate your teacher on the following items: knowledge of curriculum, being prepared for class, available for help, willingness to assist you when asked, feedback given to you about your progress, ability to teach new skills, friendliness, and overall impression.
8. What suggestions do you have for the types of lessons for this class in the future?
9. What recommendations do you have for the teacher of how she could teach this class differently in the future?
10. Would you recommend this class to another student? Why or why not?

The Results:
The students seem to like the online survey and all 17 students who were present that day answered all the questions.

The general feedback that I received was:

• There was mixed reviews about the assignments from the textbook. Some liked the step by step instructions - others thought they were boring.
• Most students like working in the group projects.
• Students recommended skipping some of the easier skills and focus on the harder skills, more projects - but many were happy with the content of the skills.
• The teacher evaluation revealed that students wanted more feedback on their progress but that the teacher knew her material well.
• Students recommended the class for others to take and the overall rating of the class was good.

I like using SurveyMonkey for the evaluation. I felt like the students were honest (it seemed that only 1 student was unhappy with the class!) but at the same time the survey wasn't too long or cumbersome for them to fill out. Almost every student wrote a comment when given the opportunity to do so.