Demographics:
12 out of 14 students are in Fisher
12 out of 14 students are seniors, 2 are sophomores
8 out of 14 have a 3.5+ GPA, 5 out of 14 have a 3.01-3.5, 1 out of 14 has a 2.0-3.0
Students who answered represented a good variety of specializations
Q: What factors do you consider when you are selecting a class to enroll in? Rank your top 4 choices.
The top three factors that students consider when choosing courses were time of day, professor, and peer recommendations, as shown in the list below:
1) Time of day
2) Professor
3) Peer recommendations
4) Duration of class
5) Online vs. classroom setting
5) Project based vs. lecture based
6) Class size
7) Number of tests
7) Who else is taking the class
Peer recommendations, classroom setting, and course style were all included (or tied) for the top 5 rankings of importance to our students, which show that there is a demand for that type of information.
Q: What do you do to prepare for class registration? Check all that apply.
Our students were least likely to ask for peer recommendations and read online rating forums to help prepare for course selections; however, there was a relatively even spread between choices, showing that most students did all of the following actions:
86% 1) Check all open sections within the course, and search for preferred time of day or days of the week
79% 2) Read the the class description in the course catalogue
71% 3) Check all open sections within the course, and search for preferred professor
64% 4) Ask friends/acquaintances who have taken the classes for their opinion
Q: How much do you value other students’ opinions about Fisher courses?
Based on a likert scale with values 1-5, a strong majority (10 out of 14) of our students felt that they “somewhat valued” other students’ opinions about Fisher courses. This shows that if we were to place information from other Fisher students onto a site, they would find some value in it.
1-not value at all
2-Somewhat not value
3-Neutral
4-Somewhat value
5-extremely value
Q: Would you consider an anonymous Fisher students’ opinion while selecting classes? Another strong majority shows that these students would be receptive to anonymous student testimonials
Yes 79%
No 21%
Q: How motivated would you be to share your opinion of classes you’ve taken on an online forum? All students who answered this question were on the line or leaning more towards helping other students by wanting to share their opinions and experiences of past Fisher courses they’ve taken, and they would be willing to post it on an online setting.
1. Definitely unmotivated
2. Somewhat unmotivated
3. Neither unmotivated or motivated - 5 people
4. Somewhat motivated - 6 people
5. Extremely motivated
The majority of students uses our competitors’ sites at least once a semester to help them choose their courses, showing that, given a “better” option, they would be likely to use that site at least once a semester. “better” in this case would be a site that is tailored more towards their college and would be considered to be more updated and reliable.
-Just once 23%
-Once a year
-Once a semester 69%
-Several times a semester 8%
Q: Do you find these websites helpful?
All students who took the survey found our competitors’ sites to be at least a little bit helpful, which supports our case for creating a site that would be helpful towards them.
-Not helpful at all
-A little helpful (6 people)
-Somewhat helpful (5 people)
-Very helpful (3 people)
Q: In your opinion, what are the most helpful aspects of using an online rating forum for classes/professors?
Based on short-answer responses, 7 out of 13 students said that the most helpful aspect of online rating forums is being able to learn more about a specific professor’s teaching style. 4 out of 13 people stated the most helpful aspect of online rating sites was being able to view comments from other students and users - some clarified that the comments helped them judge the credibility of the users’ ratings while others simply felt that others’ insights were helpful.
