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.“

[Yale College Programs of Study 2005-2006 http://www.yale.edu/yaleCollege/publications/ycps/index.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.

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 on Windows and Macintosh, Mozilla Firefox 1.0 on Windows, Safari 2.0 on Macintosh) and is connected to the internet will work.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Why do some courses show course evaluation results (OCE) and others do not?

Evaluations are shown for courses where the instructor and either the course name or course number match those of a course in the prior two terms. If there were two instructors, at least one of the instructors must be the same. If there were three instructors, at least two must be the same. Only courses with five or more students were eligible to be evaluated, and for some courses, all students declined to complete an evaluation.

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How and when can I view course evaluations from previous semesters?

Past course evaluations have been viewable only during shopping period and only for certain courses via OCS: [http://www.yale.edu/sis]. Beginning in the summer of 2007, course evaluations will be viewable prior to the opening of OCS.