Course Evaluations (Policy and Procedure)
Student feedback from end-of-semester course evaluations offers valuable insights that can help you enhance and refine your teaching. These evaluations provide a structured opportunity for students to share their learning experiences, highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement. By carefully reviewing this feedback, you can identify trends, assess the effectiveness of your instructional methods, and make informed adjustments for future courses. To maximize the benefits of course evaluations, consider encouraging students to provide thoughtful and constructive feedback and supplementing formal evaluations with ongoing, informal check-ins throughout the term.
Midterm / Interim Student Feedback
Anytime!
Use informal feedback to adjust your teaching plan on the fly:
- Monitor nonverbal cues
- Obtain verbal feedback
Take time after each class to note how things went:
- Highlight key points to incorporate into next class
- Note thoughts and ideas for the next time you teach
Leverage end-of-term evaluations to improve the next iteration of your course:
- Learn more about Online Course Evaluations (ONCE) end-of-term course evaluation below.
At Schulich, we strongly encourage all faculty to collect anonymous interim feedback about their courses in order to determine what is working well, and to gain insights and ideas about possible improvements or innovations.
Qualtrics Survey Platform
All Schulich instructors have access to Qualtrics, a powerful surveying platform. Schulich’s Canvas Team have created a simple 3-question survey using the Qualtrics platform for the purposes of collecting interim feedback. Instructors are able to use this survey, supplement it with their own questions or design their own survey.
The instructions linked below will describe how to:
1. Create a Qualtrics account
2. Select the 3-question survey mentioned above or create your own
3. Share the Qualtrics survey using Canvas
Learn More
Data from this survey will be accessible only to instructors, but we encourage you to share any relevant findings with the Teaching & Learning team.
Interim Feedback Questionnaires (Word Docs)
You may also continue to use these questionnaires on paper. Click the links below to download the word documents.
Mid-Term Feedback – Open-Ended – A.docx
It is not necessary to act on all of the suggestions, but the students do expect that instructors acknowledge their feedback.
Online Course Evaluations (ONCE)
The ONCE course evaluations and TEA rating survey have now been combined into one convenient questionnaire requiring only one login for students. Students no longer need to access two separate portals in order to submit their ONCE course evaluations or rate their instructors for a Teaching Excellence Award. Change is in effect as of Fall 2021.
The collection of end-of-term evaluations is a mandatory York University requirement, and is administered in-class via an online York application.
This questionnaire is comprised of two main sections:
ONCE – mandatory administration required by instructors
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- York Core Institutional Questions
- Schulich-specific Course and Instructor Evaluation Questions
TEA – voluntary completion by students
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- Schulich Teaching Excellence Award (TEA) Instructor Rating Questions
The collection of end-of-term evaluations is administered in-class via an online York application during the last two classes of each term in each of the Graduate and Undergraduate programs as follows:
- Regular 6-wk courses: week 5 and 6
- Regular 12-wk courses: week 11 and 12
- Weekend courses: last two class sessions
- Irregular courses: last two class sessions
The two-week evaluation window dates will vary depending on whether the course is a regular or irregularly scheduled course in either of the Graduate or Undergraduate programs.
All instructors and students are notified well in advance of their respective evaluation windows.
All Instructors and students will receive an email from the Office of the Associate Dean, Academic (ADAO), notifying them of their windows for both the ONCE and TEA.
Instructors will be notified by automated email of the ratings/evaluation period for the program in which they are teaching as follows:
- 2-3 weeks before the opening of the ratings/evaluations – for planning purposes – determine in which of the two classes you will hold the ratings/evaluations period.
Students will be notified by automated email of the ratings/evaluation period as follows:
- 1 day before the opening of the ratings/evaluations windows, and
- 1 day before the closing of the ratings/evaluations windows – as a reminder
- The notification emails (to instructors and students) will contain link and QR code to the ONCE and TEA portal
- Instructors teaching courses with irregular term dates and course lengths will be notified of those respective ratings/evaluation windows, which will be comprised of the last two class sessions of that course. The students in these courses will also be notified accordingly.
- Instructors must provide 15-20 minutes of in-class time to the students, during one of the last two class sessions for the students to complete the course evaluations (mandatory per Schulich Faculty Council policy).
- Instructors must advise the students in which class the 15-20 minutes of in-class time will be provided for them to complete the evaluations.
- Encourage students to bring a laptop or mobile device to that class. In-class completion of the evaluations has proven to encourage a higher student participation rate than completion outside of class time.
- Instructors may leave the classroom but may also stay in the beginning to provide assistance.
All instructors and students are provided with the ONCE link well in advance of their respective evaluation windows.
Online course evaluations are run by York University and may be accessed at:
ONCE: http://courseevaluations.yorku.ca
- Students use this link to complete their evaluation of the course and instructor.
- Instructors use this link to view real-time participation and final results.
ONCE evaluation results are released as follows and may be viewed by instructors here:
- Fall term results: January 15
- Winter term results: May 15
- Summer term results: September 15
Login to the ONCE website with your Passport York credentials and follow the instructions below:
Yes, a ‘Live View’ of the participation rate during the evaluation period may be viewed as follows:
Login to the ONCE website with your Passport York credentials and follow the instructions below:
Although the Online Course Evaluations (ONCE) and Teaching Excellence Awards (TEA) are conducted at the same time and through the same platform, they are two entirely separate processes. The results from ONCE and TEA are independent of each other – neither affects nor influences the other.
ONCE (Online Course Evaluations)
ONCE is the official method for collecting student feedback on courses and instructors, as required by Schulich Faculty Council. This feedback is intended to support instructors and plays a key role in helping to improve the learning experience. After the term ends and final grades are submitted ONCE results are compiled and added to your permanent teaching record. For tenure-stream faculty, these evaluations are considered in tenure and promotion decisions; for part-time or contract faculty, they are used in reappointment decisions.
TEA (Teaching Excellence Awards)
The Teaching Excellence Awards are a separate initiative, supported by the SCTE, focused on student-led recognition of outstanding teaching, and is not part of the formal evaluation process. Participation in TEA is entirely voluntary for students and must be free of any inappropriate bias. It provides students with an opportunity to celebrate instructors who have made a significant impact on their learning.
TEA recipients exemplify the values behind Seymour Schulich’s vision for these awards, demonstrating excellence in areas such as:
- Knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the subject matter
- Exceptional teaching strategies and communication skills
- Positive student learning experiences
- Teaching innovation
- Responsiveness to student needs and concerns
Student participation in the TEA is voluntary and self-promotion by the instructor is not permitted.
Results from ONCE and TEA are independent of each other, and neither influences nor impacts the other.
If you still have questions or are having technical difficulties, please contact scte@schulich.yorku.ca.