End-of-Course Evaluation Policy

Approved by Senate on March 23, 2011

McGill Course Evaluation Policy [.pdf]

Policy statement

1. McGill University values quality in the courses it offers its students. End-of-course evaluations provide valuable student feedback and are one of the ways that McGill works towards maintaining and improving the quality of courses and the student’s learning experience. Student involvement in this process is critical to enhance the general quality of teaching and learning.

2. There shall be a university wide course evaluation system, administered through an agreed upon process, which is the official system [Mercury] for collecting course evaluation data from students for all courses subject to evaluation.

Definitions

3.1 “Academic Unit” includes department, School, Institute and a Faculty without departments.

3.2 “Academic Unit Head” includes Chair, Director and, where appropriate, Dean of a Faculty without departments, and Provost when a Dean is the instructor.

3.3 “Courses” shall mean all undergraduate and graduate lecture, seminar and laboratory courses listed in the University Calendar.

3.4 “Course Evaluations” refers to the end-of- course process of evaluation conducted by means of the Course Evaluation Questionnaire.

3.5 “Course Evaluation Results” shall mean the results of both the numerical and written comments gathered by means of the Course Evaluation Questionnaire.

3.6 “Course Evaluation Questionnaire” means the questionnaire devised in accordance with this policy for such purpose.

3.7 “Course Instructors” shall mean the members of the academic staff responsible for a Course.

Purpose

4. Course evaluations, as one indicator of teaching effectiveness, are used to:

Scope

5. All courses with five (5) or more registered students shall be evaluated. Any exception must be approved by the Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning).

Content

6.1 The Course Evaluation Questionnaire for each course shall not exceed 25 questions. The Course Evaluation Questionnaire shall consist of three parts:

6.2 All Course Evaluations Questionnaires shall begin with the following four (4) core questions:

6.3 All Course Evaluations Questionnaires shall also include up to 21 additional questions selected by the Academic Unit, of which up to three (3) may be added by the individual course instructor. Units are encouraged to select these additional questions from the recommended pool of questions following the best practices as identified on the course evaluation web site.

6.4 All questions shall be answered on a scale from 1-5 where:

Where appropriate, questions shall include a “non-applicable” option.

7. In multiple instructor courses, each instructor will be evaluated. Students should not have to respond to more than three (3) instructor specific questions for each instructor.

8. Teaching assistants (TAs) shall be evaluated as part of the course evaluation process. Instructors shall share individual results of TA questions with the TA as one way to help them improve their teaching abilities. Students shall not have to respond to more than three (3) TA specific questions for each teaching assistant.

Timing

9. The evaluation period shall normally last approximately 3 weeks and end the day before the start of the examination period. Individual academic units may, with the prior approval of the Dean, extend the evaluation period to no later than the last day of exams.

10. Results shall not be disclosed to the instructor, the Academic Unit Head or delegate before final grades in the course have been submitted and processed.

Anonymity and confidentiality

11. All course evaluation results shall be anonymous.

12.1 Written evaluations in the form of comments shall be considered confidential to the Instructor and the Academic Unit Head or their delegates.

12.2 Numerical evaluation results shall be confidential to the instructor, the Academic Unit Head, and the Dean of the Faculty or their delegates.

12.3 Numerical results may be used by individuals other than the Instructor in reporting only if presented in aggregate form.

Accessibility of results

13. Numeric results of course evaluations for the previous three academic years shall be made available to McGill students and academic staff, provided two conditions are met:
a) the instructor has granted permission to allow access.
b) an adequate response rate has been received, defined as follows:

Use

14.1 Instructors shall discuss the results of their course evaluations annually with the Academic Unit Head, mentor, or a consultant from Teaching and Learning Services.

14.2 Results from course evaluations should be included in the teaching portfolio as part of the evidence of effectiveness.

14.3 Students may consult results from previous evaluations as one information source about specific courses and instructors.

Oversight

15. The Office of the Provost shall be responsible for the application of this policy and its principles.

Each Department is responsible for implementing the course evaluation procedure consistent with this policy and University administrative practices.

Depository

16. There shall be a University wide depository for course evaluation questionnaires. Results data for each department shall be permanently retained in electronic form only. The University’s system (Mercury) will serve as the depository.

Required statements

17. The following statement concerning the purpose, uses, utility, and mode of accessibility shall be put at the top of every course evaluation questionnaire by the University:

"Subject to certain limitations, end-of-course evaluation results are to be accessible to the McGill community. A statistical summary of responses will be used:

Any written comments will be used to provide useful information (e.g., suggested improvements) to the instructor and Head of the academic unit but will not be available to the McGill community.

Course evaluations are completely anonymous.

Results are not available to an instructor until the final grades for the course have been submitted and approved.”

18. The following statement shall be put by the University at the top of course evaluation results that are disseminated to students:

“End-of-course evaluations results, as one indicator of teaching effectiveness, are used to:

Written comments are treated as confidential and are not made available to the McGill community.

Download a printable version of this document: McGill Course Evaluation Policy [.pdf]