FAQ - General

During a given semester, the evaluation process opens in the weeks before the end of classes. Students receive an email notification approximately one week before the process begins. The window during which students can submit evaluations ends the morning of the first day of finals.

Many factors are taken into account when deciding on the evaluation window, including the beginning date, the ending date, and the overall number of days that the window is open. Baylor's Task Force on Electronic Course Evaluations explored many possibilities on all three of these aspects of the evaluation timeline. After receiving feedback from faculty and others during pilot administrations of electronic evaluations, the task force made numerous adjustments to the timeline for evaluations. All adjustments were made to ensure that: a) the window isn't too long or short, b) faculty have enough class sessions during which evaluations can be completed, and c) all evaluations are completed prior to the beginning of final exams.

There is currently no procedure in place that would allow for grades to be "held" until an evaluation has been completed for a given course. Because evaluations are stored off-site with the vendor, there is no link between course evaluations and Baylor's student information system that would enable grades to be released to students after they have completed an evaluation. In addition, those who have studied this question have expressed concern that forcing students to complete evaluations would result in students doing so for the wrong reasons (negatively impacting the quality of data that Baylor receives).

Yes, course evaluations are both secure and confidential. Instructors do not receive any identifying information within their evaluation results. The electronic evaluation system only keeps a record of who has submitted an evaluation in order to ensure that no student can submit more than one evaluation in any course. The system also disassociates each student's name from the evaluation that he or she has submitted. The Office of Institutional Research knows whether or not students have submitted an evaluation, but we have no record that attaches a student's identity to any one evaluation. Instructors cannot see who has completed evaluations for their courses. Also, because evaluations are completed electronically, there is no need to be concerned about an instructor recognizing a student's handwriting.

When completing evaluations, students are re-directed to the website of our vendor, Watermark Course Evaluations and Surveys. All evaluation results are stored outside of Baylor University.

In Spring 2017, IR collected feedback from students about course evaluation advertising and student's motivation to complete their course evaluations. Most respondents indicated that they had seen digital advertisements and paper advertisements in the form of posters, table tents, and door tags. When asked why they completed their evaluations for the Spring, the most common responses were encouragement and incentives from instructors. The full report is available below.

Course Evaluation Feedback, Spring 2017

If you have checked your login information, please try the steps listed below. If these changes still do not allow you to access the evaluations, please contact IR.

Change your browser settings to allow ALL cookies. This feature is used to authenticate between Canvas and the Watermark Course Evaluations and Surveys software. This issue arises occasionally for Macintosh users where the default setting is to allow only non-3rd party cookies.

Try opening the link within a separate browser window or try using a different computer. If using Internet Explorer, try opening the link in another browser, such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.

Results for all evaluations will be available after the deadline for grade submission each term. Instructors will be notified via e-mail when the reports are available.

Participation in course evaluations is entirely voluntary for students. While encouraged, students are not required to complete course evaluations. Course evaluations are confidential and anonymous, and responses are reported in a manner that protects the identities of individual respondents. No adverse consequences or penalties should be associated with the decision of the student to opt in or out of evaluations. Instructors may offer additional credit for the completion of course evaluations.