Course Evaluations

 

Welcome to the Office of Academic Review and Curricular Advancement (OARCA) Course Evaluation page. This page provides resources and contacts for the new Online Course Evaluation System. 

*Fall 2011 Course Evaluation statistics can now be viewed. The data contains aggregates for students by class (campus, division, and major) and faculty rank (division and department). You can view the data by clicking on the Fall 2011 Course Evaluation link on the right or by clicking here

Response Rates of Students to Date:

Fall 2010 End of Semester (Pilot)           78 Courses              86.3% Response Rate

Spring 2011 (A, B, AB Mod courses)      58 Courses               87.6% Response Rate

Spring 2011 (Semester courses)           1161 Courses              76.3% Response Rate

Fall 2011 (Semester courses)               1204 Courses              67.7% Response Rate

About the System

The online system for delivering course evaluations has been developed in-house by CSB|SJU IT Services. It provides the same analysis with the ability to add questions directly to the course evaluations and to view evaluations individually or in downloadable formats (e.g. Excel, text, SPSS) while better protecting the anonymity of students. The online system follows the Faculty Handbook section 4.3 guidelines for administration of course evaluations (view Faculty Handbook section 4.3). 

The system has an "opt-out" option for already tenured faculty who chose to have less than all of their courses evaluated. According to the Faculty Handbook, tenured faculty should evaluate three courses per academic year and non-tenured faculty six (view Faculty Handbook section 4.3.1.2.3). All courses listed in Banner are automatically loaded into the system. Any course that is not evaluated must be removed by the faculty using this option.

How the System Works

All courses listed in Banner for the semester are loaded into the system. Two weeks prior to the start of an evaluation period, faculty will have the option of adding questions to their course evaluations. Already tenured faculty may also choose to opt-out of evaluating courses during that time.

At the start of the evaluation period, a system-generated email will be sent out to all students providing the link to access their course evaluations and instructions. System generated emails will be sent out to students who have not completed their course evaluations. This occurs at least every three days during the open course evaluation period. At the end of the period, faculty will be able to view their results once the deadline for posting final course grades has passed.

The evaluation periods, by Faculty Handbook definition (view Faculty Handbook section 4.3.1.2.2), are the last two course cycles of the semester. For A, B, C, D, AB, or CD Mod courses, the evaluation period will be the last week of course instruction. The evaluation period for all courses may remain open past the course ending to help ensure adequate time for students to respond. 

Data Storage and Options 

The system stores the data for all course evaluations completed online within the system securely, accessible by CSB|SJU user ID and password. If a faculty member has problems with their site or stored course evaluations, IT Services can access them to help with the problem. Faculty maintains ownership of the course evaluations (view Faculty Handbook section 4.3.1.2.5).

The system allows individual faculty to share his or her results by giving permissions to others to view the site. If you are up for tenure review, temporary access to your course evaluations can be given to the Rank and Tenure Committee for easier viewing.      

For Assistance

If you have questions or suggestions concerning the Online Course Evaluation System, please contact Chris Wing in the OARCA office at 5147 or cwing@csbsju.edu. For technical problems, please contact the IT Helpdesk at 2228 or helpdesk@csbsju.edu