Academics
Course Evaluations & Student Feedback
The end-of-semester survey that shows up in every course shell — where the responses actually go, and why filling it out is worth the five minutes.
When and how it runs
An evaluation opens for each course roughly two weeks before finals and stays open through the end of exams, delivered online through the same portal as grades and registration. Responses are anonymous and only released to the instructor after final grades are submitted, so a student’s honest answer cannot influence their own grade.
What it asks
A standard set of questions covers clarity of expectations, feedback on assignments, and overall effectiveness, scored on a numeric scale; open-response questions ask what worked and what to change. Departments can add a small number of course-specific questions on top of the standard set.
Where the results go
An instructor sees their own numeric scores and comments once grades post. Department chairs see aggregated numeric trends across an instructor’s courses over time for annual review, tenure and promotion cases, and contract renewal (see contingent & non-tenure-track faculty) — but individual open-response comments are visible only to the instructor and the chair, not published or shared with other students.
Why the response rate matters
A course with a 20 percent response rate gets treated with real caution in a review, not read at face value — a low-turnout evaluation skews toward whoever felt strongly enough to bother, in either direction. Departments track response rates alongside scores and can require a make-up evaluation window for a course that fell short.