Student evaluation survey

By default, student names are confidential.

A student may elect to “Send Proof” to the instructor, if the instructor requests, by going to nau.edu/course_evals > Surveys > Completed Surveys > Send Proof in the Date/Time Completed column.

An initial email is sent to students on the day the evaluation opens. A follow-up email is sent as a reminder every five days to any student who hasn’t completed their surveys. Additionally, there is a MyCoursEval module on course dashboards of Canvas.

Students can contact the Student Technology Center at 928-523-9294, 888-520-7215, or Ask-STC@nau.edu.

Faculty/staff may contact e-Learning at 928-523-5554, 866-802-5256, or elc-help@nau.edu.

Survey dates are relative to the length of the course and the course end date. If the class ends during finals week, the survey closes the Sunday before finals at 11:59 p.m. Otherwise, the survey closes two day prior to the class end date. The length of the survey is approximately 3/16th the length of the course. Thus, the survey for a standard 16-week course starts the Monday three weeks prior to finals week. The survey dates of standard class sessions for the current semester are shown above.

Best practice is that the surveys are closed before the final exam, and, similarly, the report results are only available after grades are posted.

Results release according to the grade posting dates of the current semester (see registrar’s important dates). When a class end date is beyond finals week, results are available a week after the class ends.

• Caution should be used when automatically reporting student opinion survey scores.
• Scores and comments should be used as one of multiple measures of effective instruction.
• A composite score (mean of mean) is not a valid measure and should not be used to evaluate an instructor.
• Possibly consider the mode for items, as an item mean is easily skewed by even one extreme low or high score.
• In some cases, an instructor has no control over course or syllabus design so scores from these questions should not be used to evaluate instructors who do not design the materials.

The Office of the Provost does not offer student incentives for completion of their course evaluations.

Classes that have an instructor marked for evaluation in the Schedule of Classes Meeting Pattern are evaluated in CoursEval, with some course exclusions (below). By default, Primary Instructors are marked for evaluation, and SIs or TAs are not.

These courses do not get evaluated in CoursEval whether or not the evaluation checkbox is checked (except when a unit has requested an exception):

• 208 Fieldwork Experience
• 279 Introductory Undergraduate Research
• 389 Cooperative Education
• 408 Fieldwork Experience
• 466 Legislative Internship
• 485 Undergraduate Research
• 497 Independent Study
• 566 Legislative Internship
• 597 Reading for Comprehensive Exam
• 608 Fieldwork Experience
• 685 Graduate Research
• 689 Final Project
• 697 Independent Study
• 699 Thesis
• 799 Dissertation

The following questions were approved by committee in Spring 2017:

1. Course requirements were stated clearly in the syllabus. (students evaluate on a 4-point scale)
2. The course was organized in a way that helped me learn. (students evaluate on a 4-point scale)
3. The instructor provides constructive feedback on assignments. (students evaluate on a 4-point scale)
4. The assignments helped me understand the subject more clearly. (students evaluate on a 4-point scale)
5. The grading criteria for each assignment were clear. (students evaluate on a 4-point scale)
6. The instructor answers questions and concerns in a timely manner. (students evaluate on a 4-point scale)
7. The instructor shows respect for students. (students evaluate on a 4-point scale)
8. The assignment that most contributed to my learning was… (open ended with textbox for comments)
9. What suggestions do you have to improve this course…” (open ended with textbox for comments)
10. What did you like best about this course…” (open ended with textbox for comments)