Transition to electronic delivery
Waterloo Engineering ran a small-scale trial of a campus-built course evaluation platform in fall 2015. The platform functioned as expected and response rates remained stable, prompting the faculty to transition all course evaluations from paper-based to electronic delivery for the winter 2016 academic term. A small number of courses meeting specific criteria were evaluated using the paper questionnaire.
Students and instructors access the course evaluation system by visiting the eValuate website (login required). This video demonstration of the eValuate platform shows the student view and functionality of the electronic course evaluation platform. And the reviewing course evaluation results in evaluate video demonstrates what instructors see when they review their course evaluation results. Please see the Electronic Evaluation Instructor Guidelines (PDF) for full details.
The method of delivery was the only change made in winter 2016; the questions, evaluation dates, procedures on evaluation day, and the processing, use and sharing of results data continue to adhere to long-established practices.
UW Course Evaluation Project Team (CEPT)
To support the Outstanding Academic Programming theme in the University of Waterloo's Strategic Plan, the CEPT was established in 2014. Reporting to the associate vice-president, academic, the CEPT was made up of student, staff, and faculty representatives and undertook the following activities:
- Examined the various administrative, logistical, technological and cultural issues pertaining to course evaluations at the University of Waterloo
- Identified best practices concerning all aspects of course evaluations
- Considered the implications of adopting these best practices in relation to uWaterloo's Policy 77, the MOA, and faculty annual performance evaluations
- Assessed the feasibility of designing a common core survey instrument, with customizable sections at the Faculty, department or instructor level
The 2017 CEPT final report included recommendations for the administration, accessibility, security, and maintenance of a new course evaluation process, along with a draft version of proposed campus-wide core questions. These recommendations were in alignment with those put forward by the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario in its 2012 Audit of University Undergraduate Teaching Quality (PDF).
The CEPT completed student focus group testing with Engineering students in spring 2018, and a pilot test of the revised core questions was completed in fall 2018.
In June 2019, a dedicated web site was established to more broadly share the progress of the Course Evaluation Project.