Online Course Evaluation
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Yale University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Online Course Evaluation |
Frequently Asked Questions: Email evaluate@yale.edu
The online course evaluation system is designed to replace the traditional paper-based evaluations that have been in use in Yale College for many years. The faculty of Yale College voted to implement for the Fall 2002 semester a Web-based application that will permit students to evaluate their courses on line. This action was taken as a result of a proposal made by the Yale College Teaching and Learning Committee. The proposal, in turn, was presented to the faculty after a pilot project was conducted and evaluated.
The proposal for online course evaluation as approved by the Yale College faculty can be viewed at http://www.yale.edu/yalecollege/other/eval.html
Who is required to complete an online course evaluation?
Starting with the Fall Semester 2002, all Yale College courses with an enrollment of 5 or more undergraduates will have an online course evaluation. Students will be required to login to the evaluation website and complete a course evaluation for all of their courses that meet the above criteria. Students will not be permitted to view a grade on line in the Student Information System until they have completed an online evaluation for that course. Students can either evaluate a course or indicate on line that they opt out of that particular evaluation. Once a student either completes an online course evaluation or indicates on line that he or she is opting out of that evaluation, then the student will be able to view the grade for the course on line.
What courses will participate in online course evaluation?
All courses with Yale College numbers will be a part of online evaluation, including courses that are multiple-titled with courses in other schools at Yale. If a course has a Yale College number, it is included in the population of courses to be evaluated on line. The only exception to this rule involves courses with a total Yale College enrollment of fewer than five students. In order to protect the desired anonymity of students enrolled in these courses, they will not be evaluated on line.
What are the questions on the evaluation?
1. Looking back on [course name], what is your overall assessment of the course? What are its strengths and weaknesses, and in what ways might it be improved?
2. Please evaluate each instructor of [course name]. What are the instructor's strengths and weaknesses, and in what ways might his or her teaching be improved?
3. Please evaluate your teaching assistant here (discussion section leader, lab section leader, grader, or other assistant). What are his or her strengths and weaknesses as an instructor, and in what ways might his/her teaching be improved? Please evaluate only the teaching assistant that you are most familiar with. Note: If the instructor of the course led your discussion section, please evaluate your discussion section in this part of the evaluation.
Please note that your responses to the following questions may also be made available to students.
4. How would you summarize [course name] for a fellow student? Would you recommend [course name] to another student? Why or why not?
5. Overall, how would you rate the workload of this course in comparison to other Yale courses you have taken? (Scale: 1=much less, 2=less, 3=same, 4=greater, 5=much greater)
6. What is your overall assessment of this course? (Scale: 1=poor, 2=below average, 3=good, 4=very good, 5=excellent
Starting in fall 2005, the following questions were added for students in the class of 2009 and subsequent classes for courses that carry distributional credit for language, quantitative reasoning, writing, or science.
Language Questions:
A Please indicate your main reason for enrolling in [course name]:( 1=To enhance my international education generally, 2=To prepare for a career or professional need, 3=To prepare for study or work abroad, 4=For personal enrichment, 5=To fulfill the distribution requirement.)
B What did you hope to accomplish in [course name]? Did you attain your goal or did you change your goal?
Quantitative Reasoning Questions:
A Which of the following represents the primary reason you took [course name]? (1=It is required for my intended major or for planned postgraduate study, 2=Interest in the course material, 3=It fulfills the quantitative reasoning requirement, 4 =Both 2 and 3. 5=Other (please specify below in the text box for QR question B).
B Please describe one or two of the most valuable quantitative skills that you gained in [course name] and what aspects of the course were most effective in helping you to gain these skills. In what ways could the course have been more effective in helping you to develop these or other quantitative skills?
Writing Questions:
A Which of the following represents the main reason you took [course name]? (1=To learn material, 2 =To improve writing skills, 3 =Course or instructor reputation, 4=To fulfill the WR requirement. 5 =Other.)
B In what specific ways has taking [course name] affected your writing? What have you learned about writing that you can use in future courses?
Science Questions:
A.Which of the following represents the primary reason you chose [course name]? (1=It is required for my intended major or for planned postgraduate study, 2=Interest in the course material, 3=It fulfills the science requirement, 4=Both 2 and 3, 5 =Other (please specify below in the text box for Sc Question B).
B. Please describe one or two of the most valuable things you have learned about science through taking [course name] and what aspects of the course were most effective in teaching you these things. In what ways could the course have been more effective in helping to enhance your knowledge and understanding of science?
Who will read these evaluations?
Every evaluation is read by the instructor and may also be read by Department Chairs. Teaching fellows can also read their evaluations. The evaluation of teaching fellows is especially important, as most of them will go on to careers in teaching at a university and so seek feedback on what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve their teaching. Your evaluation can help inform a letter of recommendation that the TF's department will write for the teaching fellow's dossier.
Will students be able to see any of the evaluation results?
Responses to questions 4-6 will be available to undergraduates through the Online Course Selection system during the shopping period. Details are found in the original proposal
When will the online evaluation system be available?
For fall 2006, the application will go live on Friday, December 8, at 9:00am and will remain in production until January 3, after which students will not longer be able to evaluate their fall-term courses on line.
Why should I complete the online course evaluation?
Not only do course evaluations help your instructors improve their teaching, evaluations also are an essential component of the review and promotion process for faculty. This is your opportunity to make your voice heard on an important issue: the quality of teaching at Yale.
How do I access the evaluation?
Point your browser at http://www.yale.edu/evaluate, and login with your NetID and password. Students can evaluate courses only during restricted periods at the end of each semester.
Do I have to complete the evaluation?
You are required to complete an online evaluation, or decline to do so on the online form, for every course that requires it. Yale College regulations state that
“ For the advancement of teaching in Yale College, anonymous teaching evaluations are made available through the Yale University Student Information Systems. Students are expected to participate in this evaluation process for any Yale College course in which they are enrolled. Students who withdraw from a course after midterm are invited but not required to participate.“
and
“Early access to recorded grades is available on line to students in any Yale College course for which they have completed or actively declined to complete the online course evaluation form through the Yale University Student Information Systems.“
[Yale College Programs of Study 2005-2006 http://www.yale.edu/yaleCollege/publications/ycps/index.html]
Can I be sure that my comments are anonymous?
Your evaluations are completely anonymous and confidential. They are stored in their own database from which they will be forwarded to your instructor with no identifying information, serial number, or other data that would allow your answers to be traced back to you. A separate database records the fact that you have submitted an evaluation but contains none of the content.
I already filled out a paper evaluation for one of my courses. Do I still need to do the web evaluation?
Yes. Some instructors will ask you to complete a paper evaluation that contains questions specific to his or her course. These evaluations will be for the professor’s use only and, unlike the online evaluation, will not be made available to other students.
I’m an undergraduate, but I am taking a Graduate School course. Will I be able to evaluate it?
If it is cross-listed with a Yale College course, and has an enrollment of 5 or more undergraduates, it should appear on your list of courses to be evaluated. If it is exclusively a Graduate School or Professional School course, there is no evaluation available on line.
Can I evaluate my Senior Project?
Yes. Senior Project evaluations will be made available to the DUS of the appropriate Department.
One of the courses that I’m taking does not appear in my list of courses to be evaluated, or I’m being asked to evaluate a course that I am not enrolled in. What should I do?
Only Yale College courses with an enrollment of 5 or more undergraduates participate in online evaluations. If you think that an error has been made, email evaluate@yale.edu with your name, NetID, details.
If I choose to “Decline to evaluate” a course, and later change my mind, can I return to the web site and evaluate the course?
No. Once you decline to evaluate a course, there will be no further options to provide an online evaluation. This is designed to prevent evaluations from being influenced by the viewing of grades.
Should I prepare my answers before logging on to the evaluation site?
While it is not necessary, it may be useful to do so if you plan on lengthy or detailed responses to the questions. Prepare your responses using a text editor (Microsoft Word, Notepad, SimpleText, etc.), and save them to your Pantheon space. When you log in to the evaluation site, you can copy and paste into the response areas, and perform further review and editing as needed. The application will time out and you will lose any entered text if you stay on a page for more than 60 minutes without submitting it, even if you are entering and editing text. Also, please note that there is a limit of 4000 characters for each response that you enter into a text box.
Can I change my mind about an evaluation?
While editing your responses for a particular course, you can edit all of the questions in that evaluation. Once you have submitted the evaluation for a course, changes to that evaluation will no longer be possible. Thus, it is critical that you make sure that your responses are those intended for the course you are currently evaluating, and are not confused with those for another course or instructor.
Is it possible to evaluate the same course more than once?
No. The system records your completed evaluation for a course and will not present further opportunities for evaluation of that course.
What kind of computer do I need to complete the evaluation?
Any computer that has a recent web browser (IE 6.x on Windows and Macintosh, Mozilla Firefox 1.0 on Windows, Safari 2.0 on Macintosh) and is connected to the internet will work.
Can I access the evaluation from off-campus?
Yes. The URL at http://www.yale.edu/evaluate is available from network-connected web browsers anywhere.
What if my computer crashes before I submit my evaluation?
Any information that you entered into the evaluation is lost. You will need to restart your browser and login to http://www.yale.edu/evaluate again.
Several of my courses have more than one instructor. Do I complete a separate evaluation for each?
Yes; you will be provided with a separate text box for each instructor teaching a course with multiple instructors. Enter your responses under the appropriate faculty names.
Will I be able to view my grades online if I fail to evaluate a course?
Yes; but the online grade will not be viewable until the end of the course evaluation period.
How do I view my grades online?
Using your netid and password, log on at www.yale.edu/sis. Select grades for one term. If your grades have been reported, you can view them.
Why do some courses show course evaluation results (OCE) and others do not?
Evaluations are shown for courses where the instructor and either the course name or course number match those of a course in the prior two terms. If there were two instructors, at least one of the instructors must be the same. If there were three instructors, at least two must be the same. Only courses with five or more students were eligible to be evaluated, and for some courses, all students declined to complete an evaluation.
How and when can I view course evaluations from previous semesters?
Past course evaluations can be viewed only during shopping period and only for certain courses. Access these evaluations from the Online Course Selection application via the Student Systems website [http://www.yale.edu/sis].
How do I print my evaluations?
You have the following choices:
A separate print window will appear. Click on the word PRINT in that window. After printing, please close the print window to return to reading your evaluations.
How do I create a custom question for my course evaluation?
To create a custom question for your course evaluation, log into evaluation self service at https://faculty.yale.edu/evals/, select your course from the pull down menu, type in your question, and submit it.
When will I be able to submit my custom question for fall 2006 courses?
You can submit your question until December 7 at 11:59 pm.
Can I edit my question, after I have entered it?
Yes. You can edit your custom question at any time, up until 11:59 pm on December 7, the day before students can begin to evaluate courses.
Can I delete a question, after I created it, if I change my mind?
Until 11:59 pm on Decenber 7, the day before students can begin to evaluate courses, you can delete a question by clicking on the delete button when you are viewing your question.
Where will my question appear on the course evaluation?
The question will appear as the seventh question in the evaluation, after the six standard questions.
Is there a limit to the length of the custom question?
Yes. The custom question can be no more than 500 characters long.
If I am teaching a course with a colleague, can we both submit a custom question for the course?
No. There is only one custom question per course. However, any of the instructors teaching a course may submit the question. The name of the person who submitted the question and the date and time it was submitted is displayed on the entry screen.
Can teaching assistants create a custom question?
No. Only faculty can create custom questions.
Why would a Yale College course that I am teaching not appear on my pull-down list?
Only Yale College Courses (numbered 499 or less) that have an enrollment of 5 or more are available for evaluation. If the enrollment in your Yale College course is 5 or more and it does not appear on your list, please email evaluate@yale.edu
Which of the courses that I teach participate in the evaluation?
Any Yale College course with an enrollment of five or more undergraduates will be available for online evaluation. Graduate and professional school courses do not participate, and undergraduates enrolled in those courses will not evaluate them on line.
Which of the courses that I teach participate in the evaluation?
Any Yale College course with an enrollment of five or more undergraduates will be available for online evaluation. Graduate and professional school courses do not participate, and undergraduates enrolled in those courses will not evaluate them on line.
Can I change any of the questions on the evaluation, or can I add additional questions?
You can't change any of the questions but you can add one custom question per course. Instructors are at liberty to distribute their own paper or web-based evaluations as they choose.
I have always used a paper form of my own design. Can I continue to use it?
Individual course instructors may use their own hard-copy evaluation forms if they wish. This, however, will not exempt the students who are enrolled in these courses from evaluating them on line. Online evaluation will be required of all Yale College students who are enrolled in Yale College courses, regardless of whether their instructors have chosen to augment the online evaluations with their own paper evaluation forms.
When and how can I expect to see the results of the evaluation?
For fall-semester, 2006, course instructors will be able to view their completed course evaluations on line at: https://faculty.yale.edu/evals/ This application will be available to the faculty during the first week of January 2007, after the holiday break.
Will my teaching fellow(s) be evaluated?
Included in the online course evaluation is a question about teaching fellows. Teaching fellows will be able to view their completed evaluations on line using the same Web self-service application that is available to the regular teaching faculty. Teaching fellows can only see their own evaluations, unless a student has incorrectly selected one teaching fellow's name and evaluated another. Teaching fellows can also see the responses to questions 4,5,6.
Who should I contact with comments about this program?
Email evaluate@yale.edu with comments and questions.
URL: http://www.yale.edu/evaluate/info
Certifying Authority: Teaching and Learning Committee
Last Modified: 11.26.02
Copyright © 2002, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520