Add Questions to your Course Evaluation

As a course instructor, you may add up to 3 questions to your Mercury course evaluation questionnaire. This is an opportunity for you to get feedback specific to your course context or your teaching, such as the use of new teaching strategies. 

• Approximately three weeks before the evaluation for your course opens, you will receive an email from "TLS Support" when you are able to add your questions. This email will include the deadline for each course; this deadline cannot be extended.

• Please note that you must submit the questions yourself; your Mercury Liaison can no longer add them on your behalf.

When writing your questions, the following resources may be helpful:

• Your unit's existing questionnaire.

• McGill's bank of recommended questions, part of a document titled "Creating Meaningful Course Evaluation Questionnaires," which also contains guidelines for writing questions. Available in English and French.

• A recording of a TLS webinar entitled "Customize your Course Evaluations: Writing Meaningful Questions" (login required). View the slides only.

If a question asks for information that would potentially allow for identification of a student, such as grades or program, the option “I prefer not to answer” must be included to remind students that they are not required to answer the question.

Instructions

1. In the email invitation you received that invites you to add your questions, click on the hyperlink that starts with Choose the personalized questions for.... The subject line is "Customize your course evaluation."
   
   If you have lost the email or receive an authorization issue when you click on the link, access the course evaluation system here to add your questions. In the Tasks section, you will see an option to "Choose the personalized questions" for your course

2. If prompted, log in using your McGill username and password.

3. Preview the evaluation questionnaire to view the questions that already exist in the questionnaire. The preview will appear in a new window. When you have completed reviewing the questionnaire, Exit out of the screen.
   

4. Add your questions. You can select a pre-written question or write your own questions.

   Add a pre-written question

   Pre-written questions have been made available to you by the System Administrators.

   1. Select Show Section.
      
   2. Preview the question to view it in full.
      
   3. Click the Selected button to add this question to your questionnaire.
      

   Write your own questions

   There are three types of questions you can write yourself:

   • Multiple choice questions with a comment box
   • Multiple choice questions without a comment box
   • Comments only questions

   1. Select Show Section for the type of question you wish to add.
      
   2. You will be prompted to add a question with the default scale ("Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree") or a custom answer option scale. Select Show Section for the answer scale you prefer.
      
   3. Select the Edit button.
      
   4. Select the Notepad icon.
      
   5. Enter the question text in the boxes provided.
      • If you wish to ask your question(s) in English only, enter it in English and copy the English text directly to the French line.
      • If you wish to have the question appear in English and in French, enter French text in the second line.
   6. Ensure that the Selected button is checked off.

5. Once you have added your questions, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Submit.
   

Note:

• If you are co-teaching, please decide in consultation with your co-instructors about which questions should be added.

• A bank of recommended questions is available in English and in French.

• The deadline to add questions cannot be extended.