The end of semester course evaluation process is one of many tools used to advance Tulane’s teaching and learning mission. Course evaluations provide valued formative feedback for instructors and empower students to reflect on their academic experiences. Course evaluations also play a role in the assessment of faculty teaching effectiveness.
Academic Year 2023-24 Course Evaluation Schedule
Most Spring 2024 course evaluations will be administered on the following schedule:
Evaluation Period Opens: November 18
Evaluation Period Closes: December 7
Results Reports Available: December 29
Exceptions to this schedule include graduate and professional courses that are offered outside of the traditional 15-week academic schedule and the Law School.
Questions? Please contact the Office of Assessment & Institutional Research at (courseeval@tulane.edu).
University-Wide Course Evaluation Questions
Beginning in Fall 2020, all course evaluations consist of six core questions recommended by the Course Evaluation Task Force (see the Course Evaluation Task Force section for more details) as well as one open-ended question to allow for student comments. Schools and Departments may append additional questions, selected from the newly developed “question bank,” to address the evaluation topics specific to their programs and initiatives.
Core Questions
Scale: Strongly Agree; Agree; Neither Agree nor Disagree; Disagree; Strongly Disagree
- The class sessions helped me learn the course content.
- The exams, papers, and/or projects reflected the learning outcomes/objectives listed on the syllabus.
- I received meaningful feedback on my academic performance.
- My knowledge of this course's subject has grown as a result of taking this course.
- Overall, I would recommend this course.
- Overall, I would recommend this instructor.
Open Ended Question
Please provide additional comments about your experience in this course.
School-Specific Course Evaluation Instruments
All course evaluations consist of a set of six scaled questions and one open-ended question (see the University-Wide Course Evaluation Questions section for more information). Schools have then appended additional questions for each of their School's courses. See below for each School's course evaluation instrument.
Watermark Course Evaluation Software
Starting in the Academic Year 2020-2021, course evaluations are administered through a new software – Course Evaluations and Surveys (CES). This software, and its integration with Canvas, allows for more flexibility and ease for users in many ways, including how students are reminded of course evaluations needing to be completed; how students can access those evaluations; how instructors can monitor responses rates; and how administrators, department chairs and instructors can run reports to view the results.
Student Access to Course Evaluations
Submitting Course Evaluation Surveys
Via Canvas: During the course evaluation period, students may access the course evaluation system directly through Canvas. A reminder to complete course evaluations is displayed on their Canvas dashboard which then brings them directly to the selected course evaluation.
Via Email: During the course evaluation period, students may also access the course evaluation system directly through the emails they receive reminding them to complete their remaining course evaluations. The emails provide students with their unique link to access the system at any time during the evaluation period.
Via the Gibson Portal: Course Evaluations may be accessed by logging into the Gibson portal, then clicking on "Course Evaluations" on the left-hand menu in the "Services" section.
Accessing Results
Via the Gibson Portal: Course Evaluation Reports may be accessed by logging into the Gibson portal, then clicking on "Course Evaluations" on the left-hand menu in the "Services" section. In the Course Evaluation system, click on Student Reporting. Step-by-step screenshots are available.
Via Schedule of Classes: Once the course evaluation reports are available, students can access them through a link from the online Schedule of Classes. In the Course Evaluation system, click on Student Reporting. Step-by-step screenshots are available.
Instructions and Guides for Instructors and Administrators
Previewing Courses and Instrument
Approximately two weeks prior to the start of the main course evaluation administration, faculty will receive an email listing the courses that will be evaluated along with the open and close dates of the evaluations and the date that the course evaluation reports will become available. At that time, faculty may review their courses, students, and the instrument through the course evaluation portal. Specific instructions for previewing the courses and course evaluation instrument prior to evaluations are available through video or step-by-step directions.
Questions can be directed to courseeval@tulane.edu.
Tracking & Response Rates
During the course evaluation period, response rates may be monitored in several ways:
Via Canvas: Instructors are able to monitor response rates directly through Canvas through the response rate tracker on their Canvas course home page.
Via Email: Instructors periodically receive emails from the system providing updates on the response rates for each of their courses. In addition, the emails provide instructors with their unique link to access the system and monitor response rates at any time during the evaluation period.
Via the Gibson Portal: The Course Evaluation system may be accessed by logging into the Gibson portal, then clicking on the "Faculty" menu, and then clicking on "Course Evaluations" on the left-hand menu in the "Services" section. Once in the Course Evaluation system, response rate information is available on the faculty dashboard.
Accessing Results
List of Respondents: Once the course evaluation period closes, instructors are able to download a list of respondents for their courses with more than five completed evaluations.
Instructions for downloading a response roster are available through video or step-by-step directions.
Results Reports: About two weeks after the end of the semester, course evaluation results reports are available in the Course Evaluation system. The system may be accessed in several ways: 1) by logging into the Gibson portal, then clicking on the "Faculty" menu, and then clicking on "Course Evaluations" on the left-hand menu in the "Services" section, 2) through course home pages in Canvas, or 3) directly from the link provided in the email announcement that the results reports are available.
- Instructor Access: Instructions for instructors accessing results reports are available through video or step-by-step directions.
- Administrator Access: Instructions for administrators accessing results reports are available through video or step-by-step directions.
Scripts for each of the instructional videos are available: Previewing Courses Prior to Evaluations; List of Respondents; Instructor Access to Results Reports; and Administrator Access to Results Reports.
Course evaluation reports for courses taught prior to Fall 2020 are available by contacting the Office of Assessment & Institutional Research at (courseeval@tulane.edu).
Course Evaluation Task Force (2019-2020)
In Fall 2008, Tulane course evaluations began being administered centrally online. Over the years, individual schools and departments have both adapted and added questions to their course evaluations. This led to 168 different questions and 12 different rating scales used across the university’s course evaluations in Fall 2019.
The wide variety of instruments has posed challenges both for review at the university level and for the administration of the evaluations. Further, it had been many years since course evaluations at Tulane had been reviewed in a comprehensive manner. As a result, in Fall 2019, Provost Robin Forman called for the formation of a Course Evaluation Task Force to develop a common course evaluation instrument to be used by all Tulane University courses. Members of the Task Force included faculty representatives from each of the schools, the Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT), and two committees of the University Senate, as well as three student representatives, and staff administrators.
In fulfillment of its charge, the Task Force recommended six core questions for all Tulane course evaluations. The recommendation included that the core questions may be supplemented by School and department questions to address the evaluation topics specific to their programs and initiatives.
Core Questions
Scale: Strongly Agree; Agree; Neither Agree nor Disagree; Disagree; Strongly Disagree
- The class sessions helped me learn the course content.
- The exams, papers, and/or projects reflected the learning outcomes/objectives listed on the syllabus.
- I received meaningful feedback on my academic performance.
- My knowledge of this course's subject has grown as a result of taking this course.
- Overall, I would recommend this course.
- Overall, I would recommend this instructor.
These recommendations were adopted for the administration of Fall 2020 course evaluations.
Development of a "Question Bank"
In addition to the set of core questions for all Tulane course evaluations, the Course Evaluation Task Force recommended that Schools and departments continue to have the ability to append additional questions to their course evaluations. However, in order to provide some consistency across evaluations, a “question bank” for School administrators and department chairs to select their additional questions from was recommended. This recommendation has been adopted for the administration of Fall 2020 course evaluations.
As a result, the Office of Assessment & Institutional Research examined all 168 questions previously being asked on Tulane course evaluations, found the overlap in question themes and goals, and created a “question bank” of approximately 20 questions to address the common question themes. Beginning with the Fall 2020 course evaluation administration, all School-wide questions will be selected from the question bank. In Spring 2021, there will be the opportunity for departments to append additional questions from the question bank.
Development of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Specific Questions
The work of the Task Force included a discussion about possible questions addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) on course evaluations. They recognized that this is a challenging task and that poorly designed questions can do more harm than good. Ultimately, the Task Force felt it critical for the university’s new Chief Diversity Officer to advise on EDI specific questions and recommended that questions be developed once the new Chief Diversity Officer arrived. As a result, Dr. Anneliese Singh (Associate Provost for Diversity & Faculty Development and Chief Diversity Officer), worked with others to propose questions to be added to the Question Bank.
