Illinois Tech conducts midterm and end-of-course (EoC) student evaluations. All Illinois Tech midterm and EoC evaluation surveys use a standard set of Core Questions, approved by the University Faculty Council. The primary purpose of these course evaluation surveys is to provide instructors with student feedback on their courses. All student course evaluations are voluntary.
Midterm Course Evaluations
Midterm course evaluations are distributed to students around the midpoint of a given semester (usually 6 weeks after classes start). They provide instructors with formative student feedback. They allow students to reflect on their courses and what they have learned so far while giving instructors data they can use to make immediate course adjustments if necessary. As a result, midterm evaluation results are typically shared only with the instructors after midterm grades have been submitted.
End of Course (EoC) Evaluations
EoC evaluations allow students to provide summative feedback on their course and instructor at the end of the term. Some academic units and programs have additional supplemental questions determined by the unit. Survey results are typically made available to instructors after final grades have been submitted. Core Questions results may be summarized and analyzed across Illinois Tech to identify trends, best practices, and opportunities for improvement.
Blue, by Explorance
With the Fall 2024 EoC evaluations, student course evaluations across all colleges will be administered by the Center for Learning Innovation (CLI), using survey software, Blue (or Explorance Blue). The Blue system automates the digital delivery of surveys, including distribution and reminder emails; FERPA compliant integration with our LMS systems (Canvas and Coursera) and Banner; and customizable reporting features directly accessible to faculty.
When evaluations are available, both students and instructors may access Blue evaluations and personal dashboards in a few ways:
- direct link delivered by email
- direct "Course Evaluation" link in the course learning management system (currently Canvas or Coursera)
- additionally, in Canvas, through a "Course Evaluation" link under Profile.
- "Course Evaluations by Blue" link under Tools in the Illinois Tech Portal. (Search "Blue" and it pops up right away)
The university’s “Core” questions ask all students to evaluate the instructor and course against a standard set of questions reviewed by the University Faculty Council (UFC). Non-narrative EoC evaluation data may be rolled up, reported, effectively analyzed, with the potential to result into actionable goals across university levels.
The scale for non-narrative response options are Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. Courses with more than one instructor repeat the EoC instructor questions for each instructor. None of the questions on either evaluation are required:
Midterm Core Questions
- The course material and assignments were useful learning aids.
- Feedback on graded material (comments and/or solutions) helped me learn.
- The instructor’s use of technology was effective and appropriate for the course.
- The learning environment was engaging (e.g., encouraged class participation and/or active learning or related course material to "real world" situations).
- Compared to other IIT courses, the intellectual challenge of this course was above average
- Expected grade in this course (5 scale: A, B, C, D, E).
EoC Core Questions
Evaluation of the Course
The class meetings began and ended on time.
I could hear/read the lecture material clearly.
Assignments, quizzes and exams reflected the material covered in the course.
The learning environment was engaging (e.g., encouraged class participation and/or active learning or related course material to "real world" situations).
Please use this space to elaborate on any of the above questions about the course. (Open-ended question)
Evaluation of the Instructor/s
The instructor was well prepared.
The instructor welcomed questions.
The instructor provided meaningful answers
The instructor held regular office hours.
The instructor clearly communicated their office hours.
The instructor always behaved respectfully toward students, regardless of their appearance or special needs.
Please use this space to elaborate on any of the above questions about your instructor. (Open-ended question)
- Surveys are conducted regularly during each semester.
- The following types of courses are intentionally excluded from the survey: Thesis, Independent Study, and Internship courses, ROTC courses.
- Students receive an email containing a link to the survey landing page. The landing page, in turn, contains links to the survey for each course in which the student is enrolled during the current semester. There is also a link to the student survey landing page in the course LMS and the Portal.
- The Midterm Survey launches in the 6th week of the semester and is available to students for 2 weeks. The midterm survey is considered to be formative assessment. Therefore, instructors are encouraged to talk to their students about their interest in student feedback and their plans to use this feedback to improve both their course and their teaching effectiveness.
- The End-of-course survey distribution varies by college or program, yet is typically available to students two weeks before final exams and remains available to students up until final exams begin. Results are made available to instructors after final grades have been submitted.
Due to changes in the survey platform over time, data from past semesters is stored in a separate system. CLI has compiled much of this data. Those seeking data from past semesters (pre-fall 2024) should fill out the Course Evaluation Results Request form. Be sure to include as much detail as possible, the specific term, course id (CRN is ideal), instructor, course name, and anything else that might help locate the data. Please allow at least 2 weeks for CLI to search for the data as it is not all stored in the same way and is not easily retrievable.
A growing body of literature suggests that the use of student evaluations of teaching for personnel decisions regarding faculty is problematic. Specifically, these evaluations have been found to be influenced by a host of course characteristics unrelated to teaching effectiveness, such as the time of day the course meets, the subject, class size, whether the course is required, and the gender of the instructor (Feldman, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1992, 1993; Kember & Leung, 2011). Moreover, student course evaluations have been found to be only weakly correlated with other measures of teaching effectiveness and student learning (Boring, Ottoboni & Stark, 2016; Uttl, White & Gonzalez, 2017).
Therefore, academic departments should use a peer assessment process to evaluate faculty teaching performance. This process can include a statement of teaching philosophy, course syllabi review, peer observations of teaching performance using a rubric developed for this purpose, and self reflections on course evaluation results from the student survey. Each academic department is free to design their own process. Also, CLI staff are available to consult with departments who would like our help in developing a process.