Faculty Perceptions of Student Online Course Evaluations

As the number of college and university programs that are integrating on-line classes continues to increase, the issue of course evaluation methods may raise many questions. One of the main questions raised is to assess whether or not faculty who teach on-line courses perceive their current method of student course evaluations as an effective tool. Should these on-line courses use the same student evaluation tool that is used in the traditional lecture courses? Are there issues and concerns within the on-line teaching environment that should be addressed in such tools? What is the perception of faculty regarding the effectiveness of the current tools? There is a definite lack of information regarding the effectiveness of student course evaluations for on-line courses. Many institutions have adopted the criteria already in place for traditional courses to be used for their on-line courses.