Course Evaluations

Consistent with Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board and board of trustees policy requiring student evaluation of teaching, each semester the teacher and course evaluation process at the University of Arkansas begins with email notification from IT Services. Evaluations are managed through the CoursEval online system and are scheduled to be given the last week of classes, with scores and comments returned to faculty members 72 hours after final grades have been turned in.

All faculty members are expected to take part in teacher and course evaluations each term and follow the policy guidelines except for Law School faculty, those providing individual instruction, or courses with an enrollment fewer than five. Other evaluation tools established by the program or department should be used for assessment of individual instruction including thesis and dissertation direction and for very small classes. The Law School has a different system of student evaluation.

If you have any questions about course evaluations, please email the CoursEval administrator: courseval@uark.edu.

CoursEval Common Solutions

Students

Are my responses completely anonymous?

Yes. Instructors do not see any results from the evaluation until after final grades are posted. Instructors see their aggregate scores for standardized questions and not individual responses. The written responses appear below these scores in a random order. To ensure complete anonymity, make sure to not identify yourself in the comments.

I did not submit an evaluation before the deadline, can I still submit one?

No. Unfortunately, there is no way to give an individual access to a closed evaluation.

Can instructors see if I submitted an evaluation?

No. Faculty will only see how many responses are submitted. They will not know which students have submitted an evaluation.

Can I edit a survey after I submitted it?

Yes, you may edit your answers until the evaluation closes. Login at http://courseval.uark.edu   > Surveys > Completed Surveys > Edit Survey Answers.

Faculty and Instructors

Are there alternatives to CoursEval Faculty Added Questions?

Yes! There are many ways that you can get anonymous feedback from students. One popular method is the Surveys tool in Blackboard. This tool has some advantages over CoursEval including timeliness. You can survey your students earlier in the semester and incorporate their feedback that semester. You are also not limited in the number of questions, and you have access to different question types. Here is information on how to get started with Blackboard surveys: https://tips.uark.edu/creating-a-survey-in-blackboard/

How do I add a question?

You can find the full instructions here: https://provost.uark.edu/documents/faculty-added-questions.pdf

Is there an easier way to find the faculty questions?

The best way to quickly find your questions is to search the page for a unique word or phrase.

CTRL+ F and search for a unique key word.

I am not receiving emails about my CoursEval

CoursEval emails are automatically sent out by the system to faculty and instructors for courses that are being evaluated. If you are not receiving emails the first place to check is your spam folder in Outlook.

Next, check that you are the Primary Instructor in UAConnect for the course. If you are not, email your department to add you as Primary Instructor and email the CoursEval admin to update the survey. The CourseEval admin cannot add an instructor to a course without departmental approval.

Finally, double check that your course is being evaluated. Courses with fewer than 5 students are not evaluated with CoursEval.

Why is my course not being Evaluated?

The most common reason a course is not evaluated is that the enrollment is fewer than 5 students.

Why are two or more of my courses merged?

If the courses are merged in UA Connect, then they are merged in CoursEval.

If a faculty member has sections with fewer than 5 students, the CoursEval admin merges the small sections so that it will be evaluated.

I am unable to login to CoursEval.

CoursEval uses the Uark SSO (Single Sign On).

Often, SSO login issues are fixed when you clear your browser cache. If you need help clearing your browser cache, view these instructions: https://libraries.uark.edu/access/cache.php

If you are still unable to login, you can contact Help Desk at help.uark.edu/or 479-575-2905.

Is there a link that I can share with my students to help them complete the surveys?

Yes! You can share this link - http://courseval.uark.edu.  The student will then login with SSO and they can take the surveys for all their courses.

How can I encourage students to submit CoursEvals?

CoursEvals take place in a very busy part of the semester for the students, so reminders and engagement from the faculty make all the difference when it comes to response rates.

You can remind students in class and through email or create an announcement in Blackboard with the link.

Some faculty members suggest offering incentives if the course reaches a certain response rate.

How do I access reports from previous semesters?

Login to CoursEval. Select Reports in the top ribbon. Select Evaluation Reports from the dropdown menu. Select the Year for the evaluation that you would like to see. This will show the evaluations for that year in a list. Select Include next to the course that you would like to review. Select View to view the report.