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

Mid-Term Feedback – Directed Questions – B.docx

Mid-Term Feedback – QuantQual – C.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 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

    • York Core Institutional Questions
    • Schulich-specific Course and Instructor Evaluation Questions

TEA – voluntary completion by students

    • Schulich Teaching Excellence Award (TEA) Instructor Rating Questions

See the complete questionnaire here.

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.

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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:

Course Evaluations for Co‑Taught Courses

When a course is co‑taught and instructors are formally assigned as co‑instructors, course evaluations are designed so that each instructor is evaluated independently but equally by students.

In these cases, students are asked to submit ratings for each co‑instructor, based on their instructional role in the course.  All assigned co‑instructors are evaluated using the same evaluation instrument and criteria.

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.

The distinction between ONCE course evaluations and the Teaching Excellence Awards (TEAs) can feel unclear, as both involve student input.  However, the two processes are intentionally separate, serve different purposes, and rely on different criteria.

ONCE Course Evaluations

ONCE evaluations are part of the School’s formal course‑evaluation process.  Their primary purpose includes:

  • Supporting instructor reflection and teaching development
  • Informing program and curriculum review
  • Contributing to institutional quality‑assurance processes
  • Providing input for Teaching & Promotion (T&P) and other academic review processes, where applicable

ONCE results capture structured feedback from students about their learning experience in a specific course.  They are designed to be developmental and evaluative, and are used within established academic and administrative review frameworks.

Teaching Excellence Awards (TEAs)

The Teaching Excellence Awards are a separate recognition process.  TEA results are based specifically on student ratings, applied through a defined set of eligibility rules and selection criteria.

TEA recipients exemplify the values behind Mr. 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

TEAs are used only for the purpose of identifying and recognizing outstanding instructional performance.  They do not draw on ONCE evaluation reports, written feedback, or qualitative commentary.

Relationship Between the Two

Although both processes involve student responses:

  • ONCE evaluation results do not influence TEA outcomes
  • TEA results do not affect ONCE evaluation reporting

Each process is applied independently and for its own purpose.  This separation ensures that course feedback and award recognition remain fair, consistent, and aligned with their respective goals.

Student participation in the TEA is voluntary and self-promotion by the instructor is not permitted.

If you still have questions or are having technical difficulties, please contact  studiot@schulich.yorku.ca.