Course Evaluation
Winter 2023 Course Evaluations
Important Information on the Winter 2023 course evaluations administration:
A select number of courses have been marked for evaluation. If you do not see your course in the Course Evaluations Student Dashboard it was not selected for evaluation.
Evaluations can be accessed through the following link: (https://stlawrencecollege.campuslabs.ca/courseeval/ )
Evaluations will not be permitted outside the administration window.
Technical support can be obtained at the bottom of this page.
This website includes a list of resources and narratives to help students learn more about the course evaluation process.
Winter 2023 Important Dates
For Courses Ending before April 30th:
April 3rd, 2023 - Administration 2 starts (open to students)
April 16th, 2023 - Administration 2 ends (closed to students)
Dashboard Login
To log into the course evaluation dashboard, you can click on the following button. This link is also available in SLC.me, URSLC app, and will be included in the automated email to students during the administrative process.
WHAT are course evaluations?
Course Evaluations are online, confidential questionnaires, which ask all students a series of questions about their teaching and learning experiences specific to each course and instructor.
Course evaluations are a formalized opportunity for you to share constructive feedback with instructors about your learning experiences in each of your courses. Completing course evaluations for every one of your courses ( that appear in your Course Evaluations Student Dashboard) is important because it helps each instructor to improve upon their course planning, teaching, and assessment practices. Completing course evaluations is 'paying it forward' to future students who will benefit from your feedback, just as you have benefitted from previous students' feedback.
Each SLC student is important and we want to hear from everyone! Did you know that there is research to suggest that certain self-identified groups are more likely to complete their course evaluations? For example, those students who identify as female, mature students (35 years old or above), international students, and students in degree or graduate certificate programs tend to have higher survey completion rates. Our demographics can tell us how representative our results are in comparison to the diversity of our student population. Remember, each student has a valued voice, and we want to hear from everyone! Log in to your Course Evaluations Student Dashboard to see which of your courses are being evaluated and have your voice heard.
Will my instructors be able to identify my feedback?
Educators will not be able to tell 'who said what' or link individual responses to your student information (name or student number) unless you accidentally disclose identifying information in your feedback. For each course, all student survey responses are grouped together and a confidential report is generated to summarize numerical scores and narrative/open-text feedback once:
a minimum of three students have completed the online questionnaire; and
after your final grades have been officially submitted.
How are course evaluations intended to be used?
By Students
Course evaluations are an important formalized opportunity for you to pause, self-reflect on the quality of your learning experiences, and identify opportunities for improvement to share with each of your course instructors.
By Faculty
Course instructors can be supported to interpret and use feedback from their course evaluations to identify areas of strength (i.e., evidence of teaching effectiveness to showcase in their teaching dossier), opportunities for continued growth (i.e., insights as to how they can improve from one semester or academic year to the next), and next steps for self-directed professional learning (i.e., actionable next steps explaining how they plan to close gaps between desired and current performance)
By Program Leadership
Program leadership can be supported to interpret and use aggregated summary reports to identify patterns across similar courses from the perspective of students (i.e., areas of program and personnel strength and opportunities for growth/improvement and coaching).
Technical Support
The course evaluation process is currently using a third part software called Course Evaluations by Anthology. Students have access to their support line to help them complete their course evaluations.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Call the Anthology team via 1-716-270-0000
Setup a LIVE chat with their support team (see below)
Submit a support request using their form (see below)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
When do course evaluations happen?
Students will be invited via email to complete a course evaluation once 75% of the course learning experience has been completed. The administration period will differ for each course, depending on the length of the course and when it is scheduled within a semester. You will be given a set window of time to complete your course evaluation(s), and an automatic reminder email will be sent before the administration closes to notify you of any incomplete surveys on your Course Evaluation Student Dashboard.
How many course evaluations do I need to complete?
It's important to evaluate each course in your Course Evaluations Student Dashboard (and not just the ones you particularly like or dislike). When student response rates are low, instructors risk getting an inaccurate or biased sample of responses and feedback which does not accurately or completely represent the diversity of student opinions and experiences. It is difficult for educators to make sense of a small or incomplete sample of responses. For feedback to be taken seriously, it needs to be complete, honest, and respectful to the people who are working hard to provide you with high quality teaching and learning experiences.
How do I evaluate my courses fairly?
Real people within our SLC community will read and review your course evaluations. Even though your responses are confidential, it is not an invitation to oppress others with hurtful or discriminatory language based on sexual or gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, or disability. Rather, it is an opportunity to share behaviours, actions, or experiences that you particularly enjoyed, valued, and benefitted from, as well as specific recommendations for actionable improvements: what additions or changes could have enhanced your learning experience and why? Here is a helpful guide for making sure your feedback is constructive, and not destructive to others.
Constructive Feedback
Is thoughtfully crafted with care, humility, and growth in mind
Uses evidence in support of observations
States the impact of actions and/or experiences on you personally and/or academically (i.e., consequences: positive or negative) and not on behalf of classmates
Indicates what actions and/or experiences are preferrable
Suggests specific opportunities for growth and improvements
Destructive Feedback
Is emotional, aggressive, or insulting
Consists of general of vague comments, unsupported with specific evidence (examples)
Blames , undermines, belittles, finds fault, or diminishes the recipient of the feedback
Gives no guidance for making improvements
What are implicit biases, and how do they impact my course evaluations?
We all hold implicit biases, which are unconscious beliefs and mindsets about people and their capacities, that we learn over time from our families, our community, media, and social media. In order to evaluate your courses fairly, you need to be aware of prejudices and stereotypes which could influence how you respond to the questions asked for each of your courses. For example, research has shown that students tend to give female educators lower ratings than male educators. However, your educator's gender, race, sexual identity or religion should not impact the quality of educational experiences they are able to provide in the classroom. Remember that course evaluations will have an impact on real people in our SLC community. To respond fairly, you need to take the opportunity to reflect upon and isolate your own implicit biases. We all have them, so let's do our part and respond fairly!
How do I access my course evaluations?
You can access your course evaluations in several ways:
By clicking on the link to any email communication sent from courseval@sl.on.ca. This email will prompt you to log in to your Student Course Evaluation dashboard using your SLC username and password (i.e., your single sign-on);
By logging into Blackboard, under “My Dashboard”, you will see a Course Evaluation section; and
By logging into SLC.me, you can directly access your Student Course Evaluation dashboard.
How long will each course evaluation take to complete?
We anticipate that each course evaluation should take between 10-15 minutes to complete, depending on the depth of responses you provide to the narrative/open-text questions.
If I start and save my course feedback, can I complete it later?
Yes, you have the option to save your responses in progress and pick-up where you left off. Be sure to fully complete the page you are working on and advance to the next before leaving the dashboard.
Can I change my responses?
Yes, you may edit your responses within the course evaluation administration window. However, once the window of time has closed, you will not be able to edit your responses.
I received an email from courseval@sl.on.ca – is this spam?
No, this is not spam. This is the email address we are using at SLC to administer course evaluation emails and reminders to all program leadership, faculty and students.
If I’m having trouble with accessing my Course Evaluations Student Dashboard, where do I go for help?
See the "NEED HELP" section for various ways to communicate with the course evaluation team
What types of questions are asked within course evaluations?
Course evaluation items cover domains that are important to high-quality teaching and learning. These domains can include questions gathering your perspectives.
• The connection between the course/program learning outcomes and the assessments/activities;
• The culture and safety of the learning environment;
• Opportunities for participation in/reflection on active learning;
• Use of diverse authentic assessment strategies;
• The provision of constructive feedback; and
• Effective use of digital learning technologies.
The questionnaire will include closed- and open-ended questions.
Closed-ended (selected response) questions
Closed-ended (selected response) questions often take the form of Likert-scale items, which ask you about your level of agreement with specific statements on a four-point scale (Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree)
Open-ended (constructed response) questions
Open-ended (constructed response) questions often ask you to provide additional overall feedback (i.e., constructive comments) to your course instructor about what you would like to see more of (i.e., start doing), what you would like to see them continue in their future teaching, and what was not particularly helpful or useful to your learning (i.e., stop doing).