Student Information for Blue Course Evaluations

Evaluations are an opportunity for students to provide confidential feedback regarding their class experience to the instructor(s) and their supervisors. Your feedback may be used for curriculum development and hiring or promotion decisions. As this is a professional communication, comments should be respectful, focus on the course content/material, and provide as specific as possible examples of what the instructor did well and what could be improved. For additional guidance regarding providing feedback on your course evaluations, please watch this short video.

Course evaluations for the Fall and Spring semesters are conducted during the last three weeks of the term before study week. Classes that do not follow the regular academic calendar will have their evaluations scheduled according to their meeting dates in MyUNLV. After evaluations have been open for two weeks, content to that particular class will be blocked in WebCampus/Canvas until the student submits the corresponding evaluation, opts out of completing the evaluation, or the evaluation expires.

Evaluations for the Summer term are variable and depend on the dates of the course. Students should check their course evaluation tasks through WebCampus/Canvas or email to determine their due dates. Course content blocking does not occur during Summer term.

All evaluations close at 11:59PM PST/PDT (UNLV’s local time), and responses must be submitted before the deadline to be included on the aggregated reports distributed to the instructors and departments at the end of the evaluation cycle. Evaluations will not be conducted for classes that grades have already been posted in MyUNLV.

Course evaluations are automatically generated for regularly enrolled students earning a grade for the class. While the evaluation window is open, any auditing students who would like to complete a course evaluation will need to contact the Course Evaluation Team (unlvevals@unlv.nevada.edu). Students must be enrolled in the class in MyUNLV to be able to complete a course evaluation.

• Email: When evaluations open, students will receive an email from unlvevals@unlv.nevada.edu with a link to their course survey. Reminders emailed to students during the evaluation window will also contain this link.
• WebCampus/Canvas: After logging into WebCampus, an announcement with a link to their open evaluations will be available to students. Course evaluations can also be accessed in their calendar and through their account profile under “Course Evaluations”. Please note that this option may not be displayed on certain devices, like a mobile phone. If the instructor has added “Course Evaluations” to their WebCampus course page, students will also be able to use this link to access their course evaluations.
• MyUNLV: Students may access their course evaluations through MyUNLV with the following steps:
  • Log into MyUNLV
  • From the Student Homepage select Resources
  • In the menu on the left, select Course Evaluation
  • Be sure pop-up blockers are disabled
  • Select the Course Evaluation link
  • A new window will open showing the classes with open evaluations

While evaluations are open students may save and return to them at a later time, or edit their responses in a
submitted evaluation. To do so, students may access their course evaluations with the emailed link from unlvevals@unlv.nevada.edu or in WebCampus/Canvas. No changes or exstenions will be approved after an evaluation deadline has passed. Students should use their UNLV email for all communication with the Course Evaluation Team.

Each class will have one course evaluation, and questions on course evaluation surveys are either assigned to the course or the instructor. In team teaching situations, students will answer the course related questions once and their responses will be included on all of the assigned instructors’ reports, and the instructor related questions will be listed for each of the selected instructors, so that students may provide responses specific to each instructor. Responses to instructor related questions will only be included in the instructor’s course evaluation report.

While all responses to multiple choice questions will be aggregated on course evaluation reports, open ended comments will appear exactly as written by the students. Comments should be respectful, focus on the course content/material, and provide as specific as possible examples of what the instructor did well and what could be improved. Students should be mindful that their comments may identify them to the instructor. If this is a concern, students should reference events experienced by the whole class or leave the comment field blank. For additional guidance regarding providing feedback on your course evaluations, please watch this short video.

Evaluations do not need to be completed in one sitting. While the evaluation window is open, students may save their responses at any time and return to their evaluation when it is more convenient. During the evaluation window, students are also able to edit their submitted evaluations by returning to their evaluations with the emailed link from unlvevals@unlv.nevada.edu or in WebCampus/Canvas. However, evaluations, even those in progress, will not be accessible once the deadline has passed.

After course evaluations have been open for two weeks or longer during the regular Fall and Spring semesters, the corresponding course content in WebCampus/Canvas will be blocked. Content will not be accessible until the student completes their evaluation, opts out of their evaluation, or the evaluation expires. Only course content for an evaluation open for longer than two weeks will be affected, and there is no impact on accessing other features in WebCampus/Canvas.

Once content blocking goes into effect, students will see a notification within the course stating that they need to complete their course evaluation to proceed. Students will gain access to the course content soon after they complete the course evaluation. If they decide to opt out of that evaluation, access will return after Canvas and Blue’s daily data sync.

There are two methods for students to opt out of a course evaluation. If there is more than one open evaluation, students will see an opt out option next to each of their course evaluations after clicking on the emailed “Evaluate My Courses Now” link. Students should be able to opt back in any opted out evaluations from this page. An “opt out” button is also included on each page of the course evaluation questionnaire after the introductory message. Students may also contact the Course Evaluation Team at unlvevals@unlv.nevada.edu for assistance with opting out/in any of their course evaluations

Please note that opting out of a course evaluation may not be reflected in WebCampus/Canvas until a daily data sync is completed.

Instructors will receive a report for each evaluated class having three or more submitted evaluation surveys after grades are due to the Registrar’s Office. All quantitative responses are aggregated, and any comments will appear exactly as entered by the student on the instructor reports. To protect student anonymity, reports are not created for classes with less than three submitted course evaluations. Saved responses from unsubmitted evaluations are excluded from reports and do not count towards the three-response threshold requirement.

Yes, course evaluations must be completed based on the evaluation window stated within WebCampus/Canvas or through notifications sent from unlvevals@unlv.nevada.edu. Each evaluation will close at 11:59PM PST/PDT on the date specified for each evaluation.

For regularly scheduled, 16-week courses, evaluations will open approximately three weeks prior to the start of study week. Courses that do not follow the regular academic calendar will have different evaluation dates in accordance with their class meeting dates in MyUNLV.

Students should pay close attention to their course evaluation deadlines. To ensure the integrity of the data, course evaluations are not reopened after their deadline. If they realize that they made a mistake or would otherwise like to edit their submitted responses while the evaluation window is open, they may return to their evaluations with the emailed link from unlvevals@unlv.nevada.edu or in WebCampus/Canvas and make any desired changes. Any changes must be saved or the edited evaluation resubmitted to be included on the instructor report. No changes will be approved after an evaluation deadline has passed. Students should use a UNLV email account for all communications with the Course Evaluation Team.

Only members of the Course Evaluation Team have access to individual student responses. This information is not released outside of the Office of Decision Support. Submitted student responses are used to compile aggregate reports for instructors and departments at the end of each evaluation cycle. The data from the course evaluations is used to inform curriculum improvements and may be used in promotion and tenure decisions.

Please contact the Course Evaluation Coordinator at unlvevals@unlv.nevada.edu.