Written Evaluation, at End of a Project or Course

This evaluation is written for a course, but the same format can be used for a workshop or an extended process of research supervised by an advisor. The wording needs to be adapted in various places to match the specific course or project.

Part I

The primary goal here is to make notes as preparation for Part II, a synthetic statement. Nevertheless, try to be legible because some reviewers might read Part I as well.

1. Start with a self-evaluation

Did you achieve your personal goals? How would you have proceeded differently if you were doing this course again? What have been your major personal obstacles to learning more from this course?

What have you learned about making a workshop format course stimulating and productive? What would your advice be to prospective students about how to get the most from a course like this?

2. General evaluation

How did the course meet or not meet your expectations? How did your attitude to doing the course change through the semester? How do you think the course could be improved? What was special about this course (+positive & -negative)? How does it compare with other courses? What would be your overall recommendation to prospective students?

3. Evaluation in relation to the course description

Comment on how well the goals expressed there were met and make general and specific suggestions about how these could be better met. From the syllabus:

(e.g., from a course based on the Phases framework, http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/692-08.html: In this course you identify a current social or educational issue that concerns you—you want to know more about it, advocate a change, design a curriculum unit or a workshop, and so on. You work through the different phases of research and engaging others on that issue—from envisioning a manageable project to communicating your findings and plans for further work. If you are a CCT student, you should integrate perspectives from your previous CCT courses and will end up well prepared for—or well underway in—your synthesis project.
The classes run as workshops, in which you are introduced to and then practice using tools for research, communicating, and developing as a reflective practitioner. The class activities and course as a whole provide models for guiding your own students or supervisees in systematically addressing issues that concern them.

Part II

Write out neatly a synthetic statement (1 or 2 paragraphs) evaluating this course. (You might build on or build in your comments from Part I.) Please make comments both to help the instructor develop the course in the future and to enable some third party appreciate the course's strengths and weaknesses. (Imagine a reader who may not be willing to wade through all the comments from Part I, but is willing to do more than look at numerical averages.) Among other things you might comment on...fill in key features of the course (e.g., the overall content and progression of classes, the Phases of Research and Engagement, and the in-class activities).