The Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) questionnaire has switched over to the Internet for the spring semester creating mixed reactions among students and faculty at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC).

When asked about her opinion about the transition from print to online, Associate Chair of Sociology Jeanne Flavin replied that she was still unfamiliar with the new process saying that the “introduction to the new procedures left something to be desired.”

She also voiced some concerns about the transition to the digital evaluations. “My primary concern is that it doesn’t impose a burden on students who may not want to cart computers around to their class, or borrow others’ technology. I also hope that we can avoid having technology create divisions between haves and have-nots in our classrooms. I am also concerned that there will be a lower response rate,” she said. However, Flavin is generally supportive of the shift to the online evaluations saying “if it leads to more timely feedback, I am all for it.”

Some students shared opinion similar to Flavin’s regarding the response rate.

Rebecca Hare, FCLC ’14, said “It would have been easier paper wise. I don’t think people will participate.”

Noureen Qureshi, FCLC ’15, said that she sees the digital evaluations as an inconvenience for students and professors. “I do not think that the answers will be qualitative. I had a time constraint when I was filling mine out and I was not able to fill it out effectively,” she said.

Rachael Connolly, FCLC ’15, was concerned about lost class time saying “they are online but we have to waste time during class to do them.”

Hanadi Ibrahim, FCLC ’15 did not like the formatting of evaluations on mobile devices. “They are annoying and you have to keep scrolling up and down on the phone,” she said.

Other FCLC students favored the digital evaluations to the printed ones.

When asked what she thought of the shift from print to online, Katherine Manville, FCLC ’15 said “I think it [being online] makes it easier and it takes less time to complete.”

Anna Devine, FCLC ’16, had a similar opinion to Manville. “The online evaluations are a million times easier than the paper. Instead of waiting in class to fill [the online evaluation] out, you can do it whenever you want,” Devine said. “Once I got the link to the evaluations through e-mail, I completed them right away.”

An email was sent out to FCLC students by Associate Dean at FCLC, Mark Mattson with an introduction to the SEEQ’s, notifying students that the SEEQ’s would be completed through the Internet this semester, replacing the print version. Another email was sent to remind students to “look out” for an email providing the link to the SEEQ’s. A couple of days later, a third email was sent from Deans of Arts and Sciences with the subject title “Student Course Evaluations – Please Complete Today” providing students with the link to access the course evaluations for all of their registered classes.

After students click on the link, they are sent to a page with a list of the courses that they are registered in. Students can also access the course evaluations in the students tab in the channel entitled ‘Course Evaluations’. The status of each course evaluation is indicated on the right side with the word ‘open’ if they have yet to be completed and ‘completed’ once students finish each one.

Students were told by professors to either complete the evaluations at home or bring in a technological device with Internet access on the selected day to complete the evaluations in class. Those who do not finish the evaluations within the designated time period can save their answers and continue at a later time.

The deadline to fill out the SEEQ’s is May 6. Those who encounter a problem with accessing the course evaluations can contact Fordham IT Customer Care for assistance.