Information for Faculty

Accessing Past Semesters' Course Evaluation Reports

To access a course evaluation report from a previous semester, visit Digital Measures. University of Houston-Clear Lake credentials are required to view the reports.

How will students be reminded of the evaluation period?

During an evaluation period (10 business days before the finals' week), students will receive email reminders and instructions on how to complete the evaluations. Reminders will be sent once every three days at first, and once a day during the last three days of the evaluation window. Additionally, a Blackboard broadcast message will be visible on students' Blackboard page during the evaluation window.

Recommended Strategies for Faculty to Increase Response Rates in F2F Classes

• In preparation for in-class completion of course evaluations, faculty may want to remind students to bring a mobile device to class (i.e., smartphone, tablet, laptop).
• Set aside time (10-15 min) at the beginning or in the middle of your class for your students to complete the online teaching evaluations. (Note: If teaching evaluations are scheduled for the end of class, students are more likely to leave without completing the evaluation, intending to complete it at a later point).
• You must not be in the room while students are completing the evaluations.
• Please consider providing your students with written instructions on completing the evaluation. They can be displayed in class and left running during the time set aside to complete the evaluation.
• Describe the kind of feedback you find most useful.
• Remind students that evaluations are designed to be completely anonymous and that you will not be able to see any of their evaluations until after final grades have been submitted.
• Consider adding course evaluation information to the course syllabus.

Example of In-Class Instructions to Students

Consider reading the following script to your class before you leave the room to allow your students to complete the course evaluation:

"We will now be conducting our course evaluation. In a moment, I will show you how to access the online evaluation. But first, a few comments about why we conduct course evaluations. Every semester, instructors carefully review prior semesters’ teaching evaluations and modify course content and delivery accordingly. Thus, your evaluations can contribute to the quality of courses in this department and at UHCL in general. Course evaluations can also help you directly – when you select courses, you are able to look at prior students’ course evaluations, which can serve as a guidance for you as to whether a course or instructor are a good fit for you.

"As you fill out the course evaluation, please keep make an effort to resist stereotypes and biases about professors. Focus on your experience with the content of the course (such as the assignments, the textbook, and the course structure) and not unrelated matters (such as the instructor’s appearance or personal characteristics). Please take the time to complete these evaluations honestly and fairly.

[At this point, you might wish to reiterate in your own words why student teaching evaluations are important to you and/or provide examples of how evaluations and comments have helped you modify previous classes. Then refer to the instructions displayed in class for the next step.]

"You will need to log in to apps.uhcl.edu/OnlineEvals using a smartphone, table, or laptop. Select the evaluation for this course to begin. I will step out of the room for 10-15 minutes to provide you with time to complete the evaluation."

Efforts to Remove Biases in Evaluation

Research has shown that biases are common in student evaluations.Therefore, the following statement informing students about implicit biases will be included in the evaluations website:

"Student evaluations of teaching are a common practice for University of Houston-Clear Lake. Each evaluation impacts the annual review of faculty. Student evaluations can be biased towards faculty. Research has demonstrated that student evaluations respond overwhelmingly to a faculty’s appearance and nonverbal behavior. Nonverbal behaviors that influence teaching evaluations are rooted in culture and habit, allowing characteristics like race and gender to affect evaluations.

"As you fill out the course evaluation, please keep this in mind and make an effort to resist
stereotypes about professors. Focus on your opinions about the content of the course (
assignments, textbook, in-class material, etc.) and not unrelated matters (the instructor's appearance, etc.)."

Insufficient Response Rate

Assuming that student population is homogeneous (which it is not) at 10% sampling error, 80% confidence level, the recommended response rates for student evaluations are:

^*Only active students at the time of evaluations should be counted for the class size, excluding those who have dropped by evaluation date. If there are multiple sections (cross-listed) of the same undergraduate or graduate course, students should be combined in all the cross-listed sections.

Student feedback from courses with insufficient response rates (for classes of three and more students) will be visible to the faculty member but will be automatically excluded from being used for administrative purposes, unless a faculty member agrees to it, after receiving the evaluations.

Can faculty see individual students' responses?

While all students’ participation in the evaluations process will be recorded by the OIT Office (can be used for incentivizing participation), the responses themselves are automatically unlinked from individual students’ participation. Thus, students can be assured that course evaluations are anonymous to both OIT and the faculty.

How soon will faculty get access to evaluations reports?

At the conclusion of each semester, processed course evaluations will be provided to the academic departments. Generally, reports are uploaded to the reporting site within three business days after the due date to submit final grades for the regular session.