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Institutional Research

Information for Students

Best Practices for Student Feedback

The success of the course evaluation process depends on student participation and on the quality of your responses. How can you make your feedback on course evaluation forms as useful as possible for instructors?

Do's
  • Be respectful
    • Instead of, “Ms. Jones…”
    • Use the appropriate title of your instructors. If you are not sure if they have a doctorate (Dr.), then you can always refer to them as “Professor.”
  • Be specific
    • Instead of, “There is nothing to improve about the course – it was great!” 
    • Say something like, “I learned to [enter skill or topic here] in this course from [enter specific practices of instructor and/or assignments/course events/etc.] because [enter details on how that helped your learning].”
  • Use examples
    • Include specific assignments, course events, etc. that stood out to you
  • Offer recommendations or suggestions
    • Instead of, “too much reading” say something like, “I didn’t understand why we had to read so many articles on the same topic. Instead of reading more articles, I would have liked to spend more time unpacking them and discussing them.” OR “I had a really hard time keeping up with the reading for this course in addition to my other courses this semester. It might have helped if the instructor gave a quick quiz or assignment done on Pass/Fail and due before each class meeting for us to share what we thought about the assigned reading. That way, I might be motivated to have the reading done before class, so I’m prepared and ready to discuss it during class.”
  • Base your feedback on the entire course so far and not just the most recent test/assignment
Avoid (Don'ts)
  • Don’t include information that would identify you to the instructor, if you do not want to be identified (e.g., names, dates, specific events or discussions, etc.).
  • Don’t say “n/a,” “none,” “I don’t know,” “see above,” etc.  since those will not help your instructor know what worked well and what they can work to improve.
  • Don’t include inappropriate comments or language (e.g., commenting on the physical features of the instructor, anything that is emotionally-charged instead of logic-based, profanity, as well as commenting or criticizing based on an instructor’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc.). If you are unsure if your comments are inappropriate, then please refer to the Loyola Community Standards prior to submitting your course evaluation.
  • Don’t forget that your instructor is a person and your words could hurt them. It’s fine to offer critiques and criticism, but be sure it follows the “Do’s” mentioned above and avoids the “Don’ts” mentioned here.
  • Don’t use course evaluations as a way to report sexual harassment, discrimination, non-compliance/unethical activities, crimes, etc. Instead, use the following respective links (see more information on each in the respective FAQ below or visit the Title IX Reporting Resources website):  (tool for students to report violation of sexual and gender-based misconduct policy)
    • Report Bias (website includes a tool for students to report bias-related behavior) 
    •  (tool for the Loyola community to anonymously report behaviors in violation of the law or University policy)
    • Public Safety Anonymous Information Form (tool for anonymously reporting any incident a member of the campus community has witnessed)

Students' Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does Loyola use course evaluation surveys and why are they important?

Course evaluation surveys are typically the most common indirect assessment of courses in Higher Education. These surveys provide students the ability to share their course experiences and feedback with their instructors, so that the instructors can use student feedback to:

  1. help identify areas of strength and where improvements can be made in the course
  2. serve as evidence of teaching efficacy or excellence for use in faculty promotion and tenure processes, award nominations, etc.
When will electronic course evaluations be open to students?

For majority of courses, the course evaluations will be open 2 weeks before Study Day and they will close at 11:59 PM the day before Study Day. Specific details are available on the Academic Year Course Evaluation Schedule.

Students will receive an email to their Loyola email address directing them to click on their personalized links in the email itself or to log in to Moodle to access and complete their electronic course evaluations. The email will contain a table listing all their open course evaluations for the semester and the window for which each evaluation will be available. Electronic course evaluations will remain open for two weeks and students will receive email reminders throughout that time to complete their open course evaluations.

How can we access the course evaluation system?

As long as students have access to their email, they will be able to access the online course evaluation system (e.g., mobile devices, laptops, desktop computers). Each email reminder sent from the Office of Institutional Research (OIR; survey@loyola.edu) will include a table of courses with open evaluations (with personalized links to each) and a personalized link under “Login Instructions” at the bottom of every email. Be sure to remove BOTH the table and the personalized link in the “Login Instructions” if you forward the email to anyone other than OIR. If you accidentally forward any of these, then contact OIR (survey@loyola.edu) as soon as possible so they can help you stop them from working and break their access to your SmartEvals dashboard. Otherwise, these links are automatically broken after 30 days.

Additionally, there should be a link to the SmartEvals course evaluation system in each Moodle course at the top of the course’s homepage. If an instructor has accidentally removed this link, then they can re-add it by following the “” OTS Knowledge base article.

Why did the course evaluation survey form change?

On May 23, 2023, the “motion for decision that Loyola pilot the SIR-II institution-wide as the systematic tool used to solicit Student Evaluations of Teaching beginning AY24 passed with 20 in favor and 15 opposed via a Zoom poll” (Academic Senate minutes). See Survey Form Setup for more details.

If you have questions or would like more information on this matter, please contact your Loyola Governance representative.

Are the responses anonymous?

Although the SmartEvals system anonymizes the student information, from both Loyola faculty and staff, the student is also responsible for maintaining their anonymity. Specifically, students should avoid providing identifiable information in the open-ended question responses (e.g., names, dates, specific events, or discussions) that the instructor could use to identify the student respondent.

However, if a threat is made in a student’s evaluation response, self-harm or against another individual, then Loyola will be informed by SmartEvals and Loyola will be able to formally request identification of the student and information about the threat. Loyola will still not have access to the specific student’s response(s).

 

Why do I need to log in if my responses are anonymous?

Requiring students to log in ensures that each student can only submit one course evaluation per course. Logging in also guarantees that students only evaluate the courses in which they are enrolled. Therefore, students will not be able evaluate courses for which they are not enrolled. Your responses will remain confidential and anonymous. 

FYI – in rare instances, if a student withdrew from a course close to the start of or during when course evaluations were open, then they may still be included in that course’s enrollment (see “I recently withdrew from a course, so why am I being asked to complete a course evaluation for it?” FAQ below for more details).

How are electronic course evaluations secured?

Instructors and students can only access their electronic course evaluations by entering their Loyola login credentials through Moodle or via each of the SmartEvals-related emails in the table of courses with open evaluations (with personalized links to each) as well as a personalized link at the bottom under “Login Instructions.” Access through Moodle is password-protected. 

Access through the table of courses with open evaluations (with personalized links to each) as well as the personalized link in the “Login Instructions” at the bottom of email reminders are NOT password-protected. Therefore, either remove BOTH the table and the personalized link in the “Login Instructions” prior to forwarding any emails to anyone outside of OIR – OR – do not forward SmartEvals email reminders to anyone outside of OIR. If you accidentally forward any of these, then contact OIR (survey@loyola.edu) as soon as possible so they can help you stop them from working and break their access to your SmartEvals dashboard. Otherwise, these links are automatically broken after 30 days.

Is it possible to change my course evaluation submission?

Yes, but only when course evaluations are open. Students will have the ability to log back into the system and update their submitted responses as desired. However, this entails retaking the entire survey and that new submission will overwrite the previous submission.

How can I get the email reminders to stop?

Once you have completed all your open evaluations, then you will no longer receive reminders. If you continue to receive email reminders, then it means that you have at least one course evaluation to complete. The table in your most recent reminder email should specify which you have completed and which you have not yet completed.

What if I have not received email reminders for my course evaluation(s)?

There are various reasons why you may not receive course evaluation email reminders:

  • See possible reasons under the “I cannot see the evaluation for my course(s). Why would that be?” below; otherwise, please troubleshoot using the following options.
  • If your preferred email at Loyola is a non-Loyola email address, then you might not see these emails for one reason or another. For example, they might go to your Spam/Junk folder or you might have accidentally chosen to “Unsubscribe” yourself from the SmartEvals systems, which means you will not be able to receive any emails from SmartEvals again. If this describes your situation, then you can follow the steps described in “How can I change the email address that SmartEvals uses to send me reminders?” below or if you did "Unsubscribe" yourself from the SmartEvals systems, then you can contact OIR (survey@loyola.edu) and we can re-subscribe you to SmartEvals. For more information, see "Why should I use my Loyola email address as my preferred email address at Loyola?" below.
  • The email(s) went to your spam folder. Add evaluations@smartevals.com as an email contact to avoid this in the future.
  • You are not officially registered in the course(s). Check your current course registration record by going to Loyola Self-Service. Otherwise, check with your course’s instructor(s) or the Office of the Registrar. For the latter, visit the Office of the Registrar Contact Us website to find the appropriate office member to email or call.

 

I cannot see the evaluation for my course(s). Why would that be?

If you withdrew from the course prior to when the course’s evaluations were to be administered, then you will not be able to complete a course evaluation survey for that course.

If a course has fewer than 5 students enrolled, then no evaluation will be administered. This is done as a measure to ensure student confidentiality. However, if you would like to provide feedback directly to your instructor (e.g., email, written note, discussion) or provide your instructor with a letter of support that they could use for their promotion and tenure, etc. that describes their teaching and your resulting learning, then you are free to do that outside of this online course evaluation system.

It is also possible that the evaluation is either not yet open or has already closed. If you received an email reminder from OIR (via evaluations@smartevals.com), then you can review the “start” and “end” dates for each of the listed courses for which you had course evaluations available – at the time the email was sent out.

Some courses are also excluded since the evaluation process is not applicable to them, e.g. Psychology or School of Education courses (they will email their students directly); courses offered at other non-Loyola locations, such as study abroad or study away; etc.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to OIR (survey@loyola.edu) if you think you are missing a course evaluation survey for one of your courses.

I recently withdrew from a course, so why am I being asked to complete a course evaluation for it?

There is a small window of time between the start of the end-of-semester evaluation periods opening and when OIR and SmartEvals stop the connection between Loyola’s Colleague system and the SmartEvals system – until at least after the two-week-long evaluation period. If you withdrew from the course in that small window of time, then SmartEvals would not have been able to be updated to indicate you are no longer enrolled in the course. Therefore, you would still receive emails requesting that you complete its course evaluation as if you were still enrolled in the course. You can contact OIR (survey@loyola.edu) with proof of your withdrawal date from the course, to request that you be removed from that particular course’s roster, so you don’t receive email reminders to complete its course evaluation survey.

Otherwise, as soon as the Loyola’s Colleague system and the SmartEvals system are reconnected, then any withdrawn students’ course evaluations will be removed from the course from which they withdrew. Therefore, instructors will not see survey feedback from students that withdrew, even if those students submitted a survey.

I missed the deadline. Can I still submit my course evaluations?

No. Unfortunately, once the course evaluations have closed, they cannot be reopened. Therefore, it is very important that you complete your course evaluations while they are open. The dates when the course evaluation(s) open and close should be included in the table included in each reminder email you receive. These may be different, depending on the course, so be sure to check them for each of your courses. They are also available on the Academic Year Course Evaluation Schedule.

Why aren’t graduate courses on separate course evaluation windows than the undergraduates?

Please see the details provided in the Survey Completion section of the course evaluation process.

Why should I use my Loyola email address as my preferred email address at Loyola?

SmartEvals will not bounce back from Loyola’s email system and should not be directed towards the Junk folder, unlike if you were to use a non-Loyola email. If your preferred email address at Loyola is a non-Loyola email address, then you might have accidentally chosen to “Unsubscribe” yourself from the SmartEvals system, which means you will not be able to receive any emails from SmartEvals again. If this happened to you, then you can either follow the steps in described in “How can I change the email address that SmartEvals uses to send me reminders?” below or contact OIR (survey@loyola.edu) and we can re-subscribe you to SmartEvals.

 

How can I change the email address that SmartEvals uses to send me reminders?

You can go to Loyola Self-Service, then under Username in the upper right corner, select User Profile and update the information. Alternatively, you can go to  and click on the user image icon in the top right corner (Account manager). Then, in the Overview page of your Account manager, you should be able to edit your email to change it from your personal email address (e.g., gmail, msn, etc.) to your loyola email address that ends with “@loyola.edu” and your Loyola username should be in front of the @ symbol. Otherwise, refer to instructions in the Frequently Asked Questions document linked on the Office of the Registrar homepage or refer to the Office of the Registrar Contact Us website to find the appropriate office member to email or call.

How can I change my name in the SmartEvals system (e.g., emails)?

Once your name is updated in the Loyola database, then it should update in SmartEvals as well. To request a name change at Loyola, go to the Office of the Registrar’s Student Forms website and click on the link under the “All Students” heading that says “Chosen Name Request Form,” then complete and submit the form. Otherwise, refer to instructions in the Frequently Asked Questions document linked on the Office of the Registrar homepage or refer to the Office of the Registrar Contact Us website to find the appropriate office member to email or call.

Once your chosen name has been updated in Loyola's systems, then it should update in SmartEvals in one to two business days. After that, or at any point if there is a reversion in SmartEvals, if you still notice that the SmartEvals emails are using your legal name instead of your chosen name, then please contact the Office of Institutional Research (OIR; survey@loyola.edu) immediately so we can troubleshoot with SmartEvals and ensure this is fixed for you in their system.

When will instructors be able to see the course evaluation reports?

Ordinarily, instructors will receive an email with a PDF for each of their available course evaluation reports after the semester’s grades are finalized. The date when the semester’s grades are finalized varies based upon the semester and the deadlines for grade submissions set by the Office of the Registrar. However, to help ensure student confidentiality:

  1. only courses with 5 or more students are included in the course evaluation process/SmartEvals system; and
  2. reports are not shared for courses that had 3 or fewer student respondents.
What exactly will my instructors be able to see on the course evaluation reports?

Instructors will be able to see summative information about each of their courses in a way that allows them to review aggregated student feedback. SmartEvals does not provide instructors with an option to identify individual responders and furthermore, OIR and SmartEvals have put certain settings in place to help ensure student confidentiality. For instance,

  1. only courses with 5 or more students are included in the course evaluation process/SmartEvals system; and
  2. reports are not shared for courses that had 3 or fewer student respondents.

However, since the individual student responses are listed one-by-one on the report, students should not include information that would identify them to the instructor, if they do not want to be identified.

Should I use SmartEvals to report my instructor for gender-based harassment or discrimination?

No, rather, any sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination, sexual misconduct, or sexual violence that you would like to report, either anonymously or if you want to identify yourself, you can do so through the Title IX office’s  online form. More information, including confidential* and non-confidential reporting options is available on the Title IX office’s Reporting Resources website (asterisk, *, denotes that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed if there is an imminent threat to health and safety). This ensures that the proper process is followed and your concerns are appropriately investigated.

Should I use SmartEvals to report my instructor for bias?

No, rather, students who feel that they have been harmed by bias-related behaviors, the target of bias, or witnessed bias-related behavior, may report the incident(s) or their experience through the  or contact the Vice President for Student Development’s Office. More information, including contact information, is available on the Report Bias website. This ensures that the proper process is followed and your concerns are appropriately investigated.

Should I use SmartEvals to report my instructor for ethical violations or non-compliance with federal, state, and local laws or University policies?

No, rather, students who want to anonymously report their instructor for ethical violations or non-compliance with federal, state, and local laws or University policies may use the . This ensures that the proper process is followed and your concerns are appropriately investigated.

Should I use SmartEvals to report my instructor for a public safety-related incident?

No, rather, students may anonymously report any public safety-related incident you witnessed or experienced using the Public Safety’s online Anonymous Information Form. More information is available on the Public Safety websites, including their Public Safety’s Contact Information website. This ensures that the proper process is followed and your concerns are appropriately investigated.

 

What is the GDPR and what are the consequences if I ask to be removed from SmartEvals?

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European regulation standard for data protection and privacy. Since Loyola University, like many Higher Education institutions, has students/instructors that are either studying/teaching in Europe (e.g., Study Abroad) or that are European citizens. Therefore, to comply with the European GDPR, SmartEvals has included a link for individuals to remove themselves from the system such that their personal data is not included on the platform. Only individuals that have non-education email addresses (e.g., gmail, msn) as their SmartEvals email of record will be allowed to request this removal due to the GDPR. However, the final removal of the individuals will not be performed until after review by OIR staff to ensure the user did not mean to do this or, upon explanation of the consequences of removal from SmartEvals, will not want to be removed. Specifically, students that are permanently removed from SmartEvals would not be able to ever provide course evaluation feedback for their Loyola courses for the rest of their Loyola University tenure. Therefore, OIR staff will reach out to any students that request to be removed from SmartEvals because of GDPR – to ensure they understand the consequences of removal and to confirm their final request to be removed.

Who can I contact if I have questions about course evaluations?

You can contact the Office of Institutional Research (OIR; survey@loyola.edu) with any questions or concerns regarding course evaluations.

Academic Year 2024-25 Course Evaluation Schedule

Fall 2024

Open: November 25, 2024 at 12:01 AM
Close: December 9, 2024 at 11:59 PM

Spring 2025

Open: April 14, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Close: April 28, 2025 at 11:59 PM

For more details see the Academic Year Course Evaluation Schedule.

Contact Us

Institutional Research
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4501 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
410-617-2988
survey@loyola.edu