Instructors

Instructors can add custom questions to their course section before the evaluation period begins. Custom questions are specific to each course section and to the instructors who added them. Custom questions are often centered on the topics of particular learning materials or modes of delivery of instruction. Instructors will receive an email before course evaluations open notifying them that they can log into the Instructors Landing Page and add their three custom questions.

For each upcoming evaluation you will see a button that will allow you to add custom questions. Custom questions can be added up to the day the course evaluation opens. Once an evaluation is open you are not able to add or edit your custom questions. 

Research suggests that having to answer too many questions can reduce the response rates and the response quality of course and instructor evaluations.

Each course evaluation begins with the 16 UB core questions followed by any departmental custom questions and then any instructor specific custom questions. So you should thoughtfully consider any custom questions you would like to ask. Check to see if you can get at the assessment you would like to make from a core question or a departmental question already being included.

Your unit's course evaluations liaison will be able to help you learn more about any departmental questions that are included in course evaluations.

If you decide to add custom questions, look through the PICES catalog to select a question that meets your needs or to help guide your question creation. All the questions in the PICES catalog have been vetted and are psychometrically designed.

Instructors who teach team taught courses will have access to view data from custom questions added by their instructor peers. Team instructors should consult with each other and not ask duplicative questions.

In addition, the more instructors there are teaching a course, the more custom questions can be added. Asking students to answer too many questions can reduce response rates and the response quality of course and instructor evaluations.

Working together as a team of instructors to ask quality questions will benefit student response rates and meet the instructional needs of all instructors. 

All courses except clinical and tutorial courses will be evaluated each semester.

There are multiple types of questions that can be included in an evaluation, each targeting a different aspect of the course.

Use your UBITName and password to log into UB Course Evaluations. Your UBITName and password are the same name and password you use to log into your UB email account. You can login using a web browser on any computer, tablet or smartphone, from on- or off-campus.

Student identities are not connected to their responses in any way, provided no identifiable information was included in open-ended answers. However, you may want to review the FAQ "Will instructors know if a particular student has completed the evaluation for their course?".

Instructors can monitor response rates in real-time and see the percentage of students who have completed an evaluation when there are five or more respondents. Student identities are not connected to their responses in any way, provided no identifiable information was included in open-ended answers.

Instructors are interested in a high rate of completion so they can get the most from evaluation results. By monitoring response rates, they can more directly encourage students to respond. However, the following resolution has been adopted regarding incentivizing and encouraging course evaluation completion:

• Identifying individual students who have completed evaluations for the purpose of awarding extra credit is not allowed. However, extra credit may be awarded to an entire class for collectively achieving a pre-determined response rate. The amount of extra credit awarded should be modest to avoid any skewing effect on the evaluations. Since research shows that prizes are not effective in incentivizing students, these should not be considered.
• Instructors should personally remind students once a week in class during the administration period. Chairs and deans should also send personalized, not boilerplate, electronic reminders to their own majors twice during the administration period—an initial message at the beginning and a final reminder at the end. All electronic reminders, both from central administration and from departments, should be kept as short and as simple as possible to avoid “reminder fatigue” that might alienate students from the process.

At any point in time, instructors and students may log into UBCE and see a list of open or upcoming evaluations.

Students have a limited amount of time to complete their course evaluations. In general, they are available during the last 1–2 weeks of class.

Students will receive an email from UBCE on the day that evaluations open. They will receive reminder emails until they complete the evaluations or until the evaluations close. They can also log into UBCE to see the evaluations that are open, completed or recently closed.

A reminder announcement is also displayed on MyUB with a link to the course evaluation site.

Instructors will be prompted with an email from the UBCE at least one week before course evaluations are opened.

Instructors are encouraged to take measures to ensure a good student response rate, such as posting course evaluation reminders on UBlearns course sites and on course syllabus schedules.

Your course is not being evaluated at this time. Courses are evaluated during the last few weeks of the semester. Courses are listed in UB Course Evaluations with dates available as open, upcoming and recently closed.

Course evaluations can be completed using a web browser on any computer, tablet or smartphone, from on- or off-campus. You can log into UBCE at any time while evaluations are open and complete one or all of your course evaluations.

Students may only edit or change an evaluation when course evaluations are open. Once a student submits their evaluation, they will be unable to alter their answers. A student may request that an evaluation be reset while an evaluation period is open by contacting ubce@buffalo.edu.

It is important to emphasize to your students that:

• their opinion matters and can contribute to meaningful changes in the course or teaching methods;
• feedback provides valuable insights to instructors for continuous improvement; and
• their feedback directly impacts future students’ experiences.

Reports are only released (after grades are due) if the response rate is at least 5 students. For questions or concerns about accessing feedback in the event your course has less than five students in it, please contact us at ubce@buffalo.edu.

Course evaluation data will be most useful when response rates are high (at least 75 percent). Instructors can reinforce the value of course evaluations to students and administrators can perfect instructional strategies by:

• Giving examples of how course evaluations impacted their course or their teaching.
• “I’ve improved my course by adding more review time for exams.”
• “I’ve shortened some readings based on comments.”
• Tell students that you are interested in their point of view.
• Sharing some interesting results.

For end of semester evaluations, reports are available online one day after the deadline for posting grades for each course evaluated that meets the response rate threshold of five. These reports include summaries of the quantitative items and full text of qualitative items. These reports can also be viewed and downloaded from the instructor interface.

After logging into UBCE, administrators are able to view and download a variety of reports in a variety of formats including raw data. Administrators are also capable of creating new report formats and saving them for future reporting needs.

UB is committed to ensuring equal employment, educational opportunity, and access to all individuals. If you believe your course evaluation comments contain discriminatory comments or slurs based on racial/ethnic identity, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, please use this form to bring the matter to the attention of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for investigation and remediation.

Course evaluation data is an important part of UB's commitment to academic excellence. The aggregated course-level data can help instructors:

• Identify areas where students might need additional support.
• Review the relevance of course content.
• Improve the overall course and instructional strategies.
  
• Improve the instructional environment and student learning at UB.