Institutional Effectiveness Student FAQs

Why should I complete the student Feedback Survey?

• Instructors use your feedback to improve and enhance their courses.  They especially appreciate the time you take to respond to the open ended questions; detailed constructive feedback that may help the faculty member improve your learning through lectures, readings, assignments, and exams are particularly helpful.  
• Your feedback is also used to inform the faculty and administration about the effectiveness of the course and instruction on your learning.  It also provides important information for tenure and performance decisions made by the College.

How do I get access to my surveys?

• You can access all your course surveys through your Canvas page or through an invitation email sent through the Student Feedback system. In order to access your surveys via Canvas, go to your account and click on "Student Feedback Survey" to be redirected to the active survey links. 
• You will receive email reminders with a link to your surveys, if they are not completed.

When do the surveys take place?

• For undergraduates and some graduate courses on the semester term, the survey window is the last two weeks of regular classes.  The surveys will not be open during Finals Week.
• Graduate courses in KSOE, and on the Quarter term will survey at varying times at the end of the course, but, in general, will occur in the days before the last meeting day of the course and remain open for several days after the course conclusion (see your specific course information).  
• Courses with varying lengths during the term will have a shorter survey window and will be extended to several days after the last meeting day of the course (see your specific course information).
• All evaluations end at 11:59 pm on the scheduled end date.

Can I use my mobile device for access?

• Yes. The system supports both cell phone and tablet mobile devices.  Most devices that can connect to the Internet will work, provided the browser is up to date.  

How long does it take to complete?

• Our current survey has four open comment questions.  The length of time will be affected by the length of these written responses.  Currently the average is about 7 minutes.

Are all courses surveyed?

• Yes. All courses are surveyed at SMC.  This includes independent study, internships, labs, athletics, graduate and doctoral level courses.  
• Courses with fewer than three students are not reported to the instructor, but the data is collected and used in institutional reporting and may be viewed by administration.

Will my instructor know if I completed the survey?

• No. While instructors are able to view the response rates for their course, they cannot identify individual student completion status.

What about confidentiality and could my responses effect my grade?

• We take many precautions to ensure student response confidentiality to eliminate the possibility of individual influence:
  • Instructors can’t tell which students have completed the survey.
  • Instructors never see any individualized student responses.
  • Instructor reports are a summary (aggregate) of the entire class responses.  There is no individual student identifying information in the report.  
  • Instructors do not have access to the report until after grades are submitted to the Registrar.
  • Courses with fewer than three students or responses are not reported to the instructor, but the information is valuable; it is used in institutional reporting. 

I keep getting reminder emails.  How do I get them to stop?

• Reminder emails continue until the survey has been SUBMITTED.  If you believe you have submitted all your surveys and still get an email reminder, check your survey information page for an open/incomplete/in-progress questionnaire.   Reminders will cease when ALL your surveys are SUBMITTED.

What if I make a mistake?  Can I modify a survey that I’ve submitted?

• Once you submit, you cannot go back and make changes.  However, if you believe you have made an error in your responses (i.e. reversed the scale, confused courses, submitted before completion), please contact the Administrator immediately or reply to an email sent from the system with your specific need; exceptions can be made to correct errors.

I’ve dropped/withdrawn from a course that still appears on my list.  What should I do?

• Contact the Registrars office; you may not have been officially dropped/withdrawn from the course in the system.  Please do not fill out the survey for your dropped course.