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Loyola University Maryland

Institutional Research

Course Evaluation Surveys

Overview

Loyola currently primarily uses electronic course evaluations through the SmartEvals system. At present a common “hybrid” course evaluation form is used for those courses, until a time when the Faculty Senate proposes and approves a new course evaluation form. This form uses both Likert-type style questions with a Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree scale as well as open-ended questions. 

The course evaluation process is important to Loyola's efforts to meet a high standard of excellence in the classroom. In addition to being used for course improvement, results of these course evaluation surveys are one of the factors used in considering faculty promotion, tenure, and compensation. It is important to receive each student's independent thoughts about their courses and instructors, so we expect that students will complete these evaluations without discussing them with others. It is important for individual student’s responses to reflect their experiences over the entire semester and to offer constructive feedback that will help the instructor(s) improve their course (e.g., be specific, include examples, offer alternatives or suggestions). What worked well? Why did it work well? What could be improved? How could improvements be made? Instructors will see the course evaluation data in aggregate only and will not see any data until after grades have been submitted.

Process

Connection with Loyola System

SmartEvals personnel, OIR, and OTS collaborated to integrate connection between Loyola’s system (Colleague) and SmartEvals, which includes three components: student and faculty data (e.g., emails and Loyola ID numbers), course data (e.g., titles, numbers, departments, dates), and course registration data.

Emails to Faculty and Students

OIR and SmartEvals personnel construct emails that faculty and students will receive from the SmartEvals system during course evaluations. These emails are customized to their intended targets and include an initial email sent out the day course evaluation surveys open and subsequent reminders are sent regularly to encourage participation. Students only get reminders for courses whose surveys they have not completed and will not receive reminders once they complete them all. Faculty similarly only get reminders for their courses where there are students that have not yet participated. The timing and frequency of these emails are built into the process.

Survey Form Setup

Currently, a common “hybrid” course evaluation survey form is used for most Loyola courses. This form uses both Likert-type style questions with a Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree scale (with “Not Applicable” as an option) as well as open-ended questions. There are thirteen course-based questions that are only asked once per course evaluation survey in the following categories: Overall Observations of the Course, Student Self-Evaluation, and Course Design. There are five Instructor Impact questions that are asked for each instructor of the course.

For certain courses, there are specific question set(s) asked in addition to the “hybrid” course evaluation form – depending upon the type of course. The types of course assigned these additional question sets and the Likert-type style questions with a Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree scale (and “Not Applicable,” as needed) and/or open-ended questions are below or attached.

Survey Completion

The surveys open for students to take them towards the end of each course's respective term and the length of time when the surveys are open is based upon the length of the course and when it is offered. Specifically, for fall and spring semesters, the majority of courses' evaluation periods are based upon the date of Study Day (the day before the first day of undergraduate final exams). The surveys must close by 11:59 PM the day before that date and they are open for at least two weeks prior to that, based upon decision-making of the Faculty Evaluation Committee. This decision was made to ensure that students could focus on their final exams and projects without also trying to complete course evaluations, especially since some undergraduate students take graduate-level courses. For specific semester's dates, please visit the particular Academic Calendar(s) of interest, published by the Records Office.

Students are sent customized email reminders to complete their surveys through the SmartEvals system. A personalized email is also sent to faculty advising them that course surveys are open. During the evaluation period, students are reminded via email at regular intervals, which specific course surveys they still need to complete - until they complete all the course evaluations. Faculty will also receive email reminders for those courses with less than 100% survey completion.

Result Dissemination and Analysis

Faculty will receive an email with a PDF for each of their available course evaluation reports after the semester’s grades are finalized. Additionally, faculty can log in to SmartEvals at any time to make use of the extensive tools available to help view and analyze the results of their released survey data. SmartEvals keeps all historical course evaluation data for each faculty member - to help faculty make decisions based on trends and other indicators. See Faculty Resources and Training for more information.

 

Academic Year Course Evaluation Schedule

Summer

Summer courses' course evaluation schedules vary and are based on course length and end date.

Fall

The majority of Fall 2023 courses will have the following schedule:

  • Open: November 27, 2023 at 12:01 AM
  • Close: December 11, 2023 at 11:59 PM

Spring

The majority of Spring 2024 courses will have the following schedule:

  • Open: April 15, 2024 at 12:01 AM
  • Close: April 29, 2024 at 11:59 PM

Resources