Towards the end of the semester, students are often flooded with emails from professors encouraging them to complete a Course Instructor Survey (CIS) to provide feedback on their course experience. For students, it is one of their only chances to offer direct comment on a professor’s teaching style, workload or class content.

However, despite their importance, many students –– myself included –– have often opted out of completing them, no matter how nicely they’re asked by professors. 

Unless enough students routinely complete the CIS, survey results are not as meaningful as they could potentially be. Without a representative sample of students, survey results are more likely to reflect students’ outlier experiences  –– both positive and negative. 

UT should implement a universitywide incentive program to encourage a higher response rate to  Course Instructor Surveys. 

While my personal participation in the course survey process has been inconsistent, I always consult past CIS results when registering for classes. In fact, at freshman orientation, I was advised by student advisors to look at professors’ average ratings when making course selections. 

And I’m not the only student who uses this tool. 

“The CIS survey is useful for students because we go and see how the professor is rated,” said Praveena Javvadi, government and Plan II senior.

It really is in students’ best interest for everyone to fill out these surveys. 

However, despite this benefit, many students still do not participate in these surveys due to the fact that they’re offered online. 

“When a professor says, ‘hey this is the CIS survey, I’m going to step out for 5 minutes,’ even if it is on their laptops … taking the class time out to do it gets people to do it more,” Javvadi said. “Because you are here for class, you are already taking the time. When it is online, I don’t think it is ill-intentioned that students don’t do it, I think it is just less likely to be done.” 

UT cannot expect the same student turnout when students are not given a physical, designated time to complete their surveys. There has to be an additional incentive for students to want to participate. 

The two best practice strategies that UT can leverage include giving students the opportunity to participate in a prize draw for completing course surveys and providing students who submit their CIS with early access to their final course grade.

Campuswide incentives for related activities are not new to UT; they are just not a matter of academic policy. Departments across campus, such as University Housing and Dining, have been known to offer students Amazon or Starbucks gift cards, UT merchandise, or free food for participating in surveys.

Many professors support an incentive system like this. 

“I think that students should be compelled to fill out CIS for every class to get their grades recorded by the registrar,” said Janice Fischer, director of the Biology Instructional Office and professor of molecular biosciences.

Instructors aren’t the only ones who see these survey results, as survey feedback is reviewed by administration. In fact, according to the CIS website, “this information … is used in promotion and tenure decisions.” The CIS office was not available for comment before the publication of this column. 

It is clear that course evaluation data is important to students, instructors and administration. An incentive system would be a feasible and effective way to encourage students to fill out CIS surveys. 

The CIS office has the opportunity to codify and enhance its efforts to increase CIS  participation. It should take advantage.

Strelitz-Block is a Plan II and anthropology sophomore from Austin, Texas.