STUDENT
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I complete the online course evaluation?
Not only do course evaluations help
your instructors improve their teaching, evaluations also
are an essential component of the review and promotion process
for faculty. This is your opportunity to make your voice
heard on an important issue: the quality of teaching at
Yale.
How do I access the evaluation?
Point your browser at http://www.yale.edu/evaluate,
and login with your NetID and password. Students can evaluate
courses only during restricted periods at the end of each
semester.
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Do I have to complete the evaluation?
You
are required to complete an online evaluation, or decline
to do so on the online form, for every course that requires
it. Yale
College
regulations state that
“
For the
advancement of teaching in Yale College, anonymous
teaching evaluations are made available through the Yale
University Student Information Systems. Students are
expected to participate in this evaluation process for any
Yale College course in which they are enrolled. Students
who withdraw from a course after midterm are invited but
not required to participate.“
and
“Early
access to recorded grades is available on line to students
in any Yale College course for which they have completed
or actively declined to complete the online course evaluation
form through the Yale University Student Information Systems.“
http://www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publications/chapter_iii/grades/general.html
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Can I be sure that my comments are anonymous?
Your evaluations are completely anonymous
and confidential. They are stored in their own database
from which they will be forwarded to your instructor with
no identifying information, serial number, or other data
that would allow your answers to be traced back to you.
A separate database records the fact that you have submitted
an evaluation but contains none of the content.
I already filled out a paper evaluation for one of my courses.
Do I still need to do the web evaluation?
Yes. Some instructors will ask you to
complete a paper evaluation that contains questions specific
to his or her course. These evaluations will be for the
professor’s use only and, unlike the online evaluation,
will not be made available to other students.
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I’m an undergraduate, but I am taking a Graduate School
course. Will I be able to evaluate it?
If
it is cross-listed with a Yale
College course, and has an enrollment of 5 or more undergraduates,
it should appear on your list of courses to be evaluated.
If it is exclusively a Graduate School or Professional School
course, there is no evaluation available on line.
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Can I evaluate my Senior Project?
Yes. Senior Project evaluations will
be made available to the DUS of the appropriate Department.
One of the courses that I’m taking does not
appear in my list of courses to be evaluated, or I’m
being asked to evaluate a course that I am not enrolled
in. What should I do?
Only
Yale
College courses with an
enrollment of 5 or more undergraduates participate in online
evaluations. If you think that an error has been made, email
evaluate@yale.edu
with your name, NetID, details.
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If I choose to “Decline to evaluate” a course,
and later change my mind, can I return to the web site and
evaluate the course?
No. Once you decline to evaluate a course,
there will be no further options to provide an online evaluation.
This is designed to prevent evaluations from being influenced
by the viewing of grades.
Should I prepare my answers before logging on to
the evaluation site?
While it is not necessary, it may be
useful to do so if you plan on lengthy or detailed responses
to the questions. Prepare your responses using a text editor
(Microsoft Word, Notepad, SimpleText, etc.), and save them
to your Pantheon space. When you log in to the evaluation
site, you can copy and paste into the response areas, and
perform further review and editing as needed. The application
will time out and you will lose any entered text if you
stay on a page for more than 60 minutes without submitting
it, even if you are entering and editing text. Also, please
note that there is a limit of 4000 characters for each response
that you enter into a text box.
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Can I change my mind about an evaluation?
While editing your responses for a particular
course, you can edit all of the questions in that evaluation.
Once you have submitted the evaluation for a course, changes
to that evaluation will no longer be possible. Thus, it
is critical that you make sure that your responses are those
intended for the course you are currently evaluating, and
are not confused with those for another course or instructor.
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Is it possible to evaluate the same course more than once?
No. The system records your completed
evaluation for a course and will not present further opportunities
for evaluation of that course.
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What kind of computer do I need to complete the evaluation?
Any computer that has a recent web browser
(IE 6.x or 7.x on Windows, Firefox/Mozilla 1.x or 2.x on
Windows, Safari 2.x on Macintosh) and is connected to the
internet will work.
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Can I access the evaluation from off-campus?
Yes. The URL at http://www.yale.edu/evaluate
is available from network-connected web browsers anywhere.
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What if my computer crashes before I submit my evaluation?
Any information that you entered into
the evaluation is lost. You will need to restart your browser
and login to http://www.yale.edu/evaluate
again.
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Several of my courses have more than one instructor. Do
I complete a separate evaluation for each?
Yes; you will be provided with a separate
text box for each instructor teaching a course with multiple
instructors. Enter your responses under the appropriate
faculty names.
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Will I be able to view my grades online if I fail to evaluate
a course?
Yes; but the online grade will not be
viewable until the end of the course evaluation period.
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How do I view my grades online?
Using
your netid and password, log on at www.yale.edu/sis.
Select
grades for one term. If your grades have been reported,
you can view them.
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How and when can I view course evaluations from previous
semesters?
Course evaluations are avaliable to
Yale College students year round throught the Online Course
Information (OCI) site. Click on the ‘Search Yale
College Course Evaluation’ link at the top left of
the page:
www.yale.edu/oci
You will be prompted for your Netid and password to log
in.
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