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Course Evaluations

Overview

Course Evaluations are administered in accordance with requirements of Texas H.B. 2504.  It is the survey instrument which is composed of a variety of quantitative and qualitative questions and designed to allow students to give feedback at the end of the semester regarding their perceptions of the course experience.  Responses are collected directly from the students and managed by the Office of Academic Technology (AT) to give the faculty feedback on teaching performance, course management, as well as for use in personnel actions, including merit, promotion and tenure cases. 

The course evaluations are one component of feedback available to the instructor.  The course evaluation summary report data is also publicly available in order to fulfill HB 2504 requirements.

All course evaluations are fully online, and are administered using eXplorance's Blue Course Evaluation Software.  We ask that faculty set aside class time during the course eval cycle so that students may complete evaluations. 



Composition of the Survey

There are 18 questions on the survey:

  • Questions 1 and 2 are demographics questions
  • Questions 3 through 8 pertain to the instruction of the course
  • Questions 9 through 13 pertain to the course’s design
  • Questions 14 through 17 pertain to how the course relates to and addresses the university's Quality Enhancement plan.
  • Question 18 is open-ended for students to leave comments.”

These questions were decided upon by a group of faculty and administration and approved by the Academic Affairs Division.  The Faculty Senate was also consulted about the composition of the questions.

Most questions are on a 5-point scale. From left to right response boxes indicate “Strongly Agree,” “Agree,” “Neutral,” “Disagree,” and “Strongly Disagree.” 

Between Fall 2017 and Spring 2018, the point scale flipped. In reports that are Fall 2017 or older, Strongly Agree was worth one point and Strongly Disagree was worth five. From Spring 2018 on, Strongly Agree will be worth five points and Strongly Disagree will be worth one.

Courses that do not get surveyed:

  • Independent Study
  • Dissertation
  • Masters Thesis
  • Internship programs and
  • Courses with fewer than 4 student enrollments