CoursEval: Faculty Resources

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Faculty Resources for Course Evaluations

Starting Fall 2025, Queens College is using an updated course evaluation questionnaire. The new set includes 13 items. Writing Intensive (W) courses will include an additional 3 items. Also, instructors may choose to add up to 3 more items, which will appear at the end of the core question set. You can learn more about these items and the new course evaluations process below.

Note: All active faculty may access the QC CoursEval system using their QC CAMS credentials.

About the New Course Evaluation Questionnaire

In AY2024-2025, the QC Working Group on Course Evaluations (a faculty committee with student members led by the OIE and CETLL) re-designed the course evaluations instrument to incorporate valid measures of student experiences and address common issues with student evaluations of teaching effectiveness.

The revised 2025 Course Evaluation Instrument, along with our suggestions for a new process, including an optional add-on question bank for instructors, were reviewed by the Academic Senate and the motion was passed in April 2025. The justification to revise student course evaluations may be found in Appendix 6 of the CEET Motion to Revise QC Course Evaluations. Other resources below:

 

How to Add Items from the Question Bank

Before course evaluations open, instructors have the option to “personalize” their evaluations by adding up to three (3) additional questions from the QC CoursEval Add-on Question Bank to each individual course they teach. 

Each term, instructors are prompted to review the question bank two weeks before the question selection period begins, during the course correction period. The question selection period opens the week before course evaluations open, after all course corrections are made. See the CoursEval timeline here. Add-on items must be selected each term (i.e., selections do not carry over into subsequent terms). Please review the question bank and how-to guidance below:

 

How to Increase Response Rates

Higher responses rates lead to more reliable information.

Instructors may consider the following options to improve response rates:

  1. During class time, announce the date when course evaluations will open.
  2. Assure students that the process is completely anonymous. Let them know that, as faculty, you will not be able to see results until after grades are posted and that no identifying information will be included with their responses.
  3. Explain the value of students’ feedback by sharing an example of past feedback you have used in course redesign. 
  4. Let students know how they can access the CoursEval system and how to find their CAMS credentials.
  5. Use class time to have students complete their evaluation of your course on a mobile device.
  6. Run through the survey items with your students and explain the questions’ context as it relates to your class. Or, help orient students to the questionnaire by sharing this website: Student Guide to CoursEvals.
  7. Offer extra credit to students that select to “send proof”, confirming that an evaluation was submitted.
  8. Grant extra credit to the entire class if the course response rate reaches a certain percent (e.g., 80%).

 

How to Access your CoursEval Reports

Course evaluations close by the end of the term and results are not released until after all grades are posted (typically early June for spring terms, and early January for fall terms). This ensures that students may leave honest feedback without fear of penalty.

Upon release, instructors receive an email notification that their reports are ready. These reports allow instructors to see response rates for each course and individual course results, including quantitative summary data (counts and average ratings for each survey item) and students’ unedited comments. Likewise, department chairs and deans will be able to access reports for their faculty. Note that department chairs and deans have access to quantitative data only (but not to comments) for all courses in their departments.

To access your CoursEval Reports as an instructor:

  1. Log in to https://www.qc.cuny.edu/evaluate with your faculty account
  2. On your home page, select View Reports 
  3. To view past reports, select Reports at the top and select Evaluation Reports
  4. Set the filters for the year and period and set all others to Show All
  5. Check each report you would like to view (in the Includes column)
  6. Click View above the list of results to view your reports

 

To access CoursEval Reports as a department administrator (chair or dean):

  1. Log in to https://www.qc.cuny.edu/evaluate with your faculty account
  2. On your home page, select Reports in the top-left menu
  3. Select Survey Intelligence Reports
  4. From here you can edit a previous report or create a new one
  5. Select relevant filers and/or aggregations
  6. Run the report as a PDF or CSV file

 

You can learn more about Anthology CoursEval reports here.

Summary data and institutional averages from 2010 on are available via interactive Tableau dashboards.

Summary data from 2001 to 2010 are available to view at https://apps.qc.cuny.edu/courses/.

How to Interpret Student Feedback

Before you look at your student course evaluation scores and comments, it can be helpful to reflect on your own experience in teaching the course. What went well? What are some areas for growth, development, or change?

Keep the following in mind when interpreting your course evaluations report:

  • The ratings are reflective of students’ experiences and perceptions. Students are well-positioned to speak of their satisfaction with their experience in a course but are much less well-positioned to assess an instructor’s teaching quality, and breadth of knowledge and scholarship. This is why the questionnaire focuses on measures of student experiences, rather than measures of teaching effectiveness.
  • The ratings are NOT faculty evaluations. Research has identified a number of factors that affect student evaluations of teaching (SET) that are out of an instructor’s control. Ratings can be biased by a number of variables such as an instructor’s gender, perceived attractiveness, ethnicity, and race. This is why the questionnaire focuses on aspects of course design, rather than aspects of the instructor.
  • A Likert Scale is used in the evaluation questionnaire. For an accurate interpretation of your results, be sure to keep this scale in mind while reading through your report:
    • 1. Strongly Disagree
      2. Somewhat Disagree
      3. Neither
      4. Somewhat Agree
      5. Strongly Agree
      DK/N/A – Cannot Rate [Not included in mean calculations]
      In general, high scores (4+) can be interpreted as a student consensus indicating a strength. On the other hand, low scores (2-) should be considered as an area that requires immediate developmental focus according to student feedback.
  • Small differences in mean (average) ratings are common and are not necessarily significant. Comparing means would be problematic. The data are most informative for gauging the strengths of your approach to your class –in the eyes of your students– as well as the challenges your students encountered.
  • Higher response rates lead to more reliable information. The higher your response rates, the more your feedback is representative of your students’ experiences.

 

How to Incorporate Feedback into Teaching

Remember, teaching as an ongoing process of inquiry, experimentation, and innovation. After reflecting on the semester, consider how student work and student course evaluations might point to areas in course design or pedagogy that could benefit from further development.

1. Take some time to process your course evaluation feedback with a view to understanding your students’ perceptions and experiences in your class.

2. Look for patterns and trends in the quantitative data, and then look for themes in the comments. The CoursEval questionnaire is designed to help you evaluate course structure, student opportunities for engagement, student support, and course rigor. It also provides open-ended feedback on what worked well for students and what areas students recommend for improvement. It can be helpful to reference the CoursEval instrument as you review your course evaluation reports.

3. Consider the following questions:

  • Is there a sub-group of students who could benefit from course changes or different approaches?
  • Is the course attracting the students you expected, with appropriate interests and prior knowledge? If not, what adjustments in course content, learning goals, or pacing might you consider?
  • Are students attending the course regularly? Are students spending an appropriate amount of time on the course outside of class? If not, what adjustments to assigned tasks or in-class activities might you consider?
  • Are means scores higher in some areas and lower in others? For example:
    • Is the course structure clear to students? If not, could it be revised?
    • Do students feel welcome and encouraged to be engaged? If not, what active learning strategies would you incorporate?
    • Do the items on rigor and support indicate that students have enough learning opportunities to develop needed skills/knowledge? If not, what changes to pacing or assigned tasks might students benefit from?

    • NOTE: If feedback points to mismatches in course alignment, consider:

      • How are course tasks related to exams/major assignments?
      • How are the exams/major assignments related to each other?
      • How do the exams/major assignments address your course learning goals?
      • What other forms of assessment could be used as indicators of student learning?
      • Are the assessments structured in a way to help students assess their own work and progress?How might students’ recommendations relate to ratings from previous sections?

4.  Develop a plan to assess the impact of any changes informed by student feedback. You may want to track the ratings or comments to certain items on your course evaluation reports, or track grade averages on certain course assignments. You can also add course-specific items from the Add-on Question Bank and track their ratings over time. Remember, you have the option of keeping the results of course-specific items private.

5.  Consider participating in CETLL Workshops, or reach out to CETLL for one-on-one assistance. Subscribe to the CETLL email list Socrates, to receive announcements about upcoming events, workshops, and other offerings.

Questions and Support