Course Evaluation Information

HCU has chosen the IDEA online course evaluations to collect feedback from students regarding their courses. Please know that each student’s input is extremely important as it is carefully considered by faculty, department chairs, deans, and the Office of the Provost to specifically make improvements to the courses. However, at no time will students be personally identified with their responses. Students’ honest feedback helps HCU in its efforts to continually improve instruction.

Faculty are notified of the completion rate during the process; however, at no time are students individually identified as having completed the evaluation. This information helps faculty improve the courses and is an important part of the SACSCOC accreditation process.

Accessing course evaluations

Students can access their course evaluations via the course evaluation link within their Canvas accounts, by using their HCU email and password to log into the Anthology – Campus Labs student portal, or by clicking on the course evaluation link that is provided in the emails that are sent out by the Office of the Provost. All course evaluations can be completed on a computer or mobile device, and are typically available 2-3 weeks before the end of finals.

Common Questions: 

Question: How do I access, complete, or edit my course evaluations?
Answer: Please read the Student Basics support article.

Question: Why am I not receiving emails for course evaluations from the Office of the Provost?
Answer: If your course is an Internship, Externship, Independent Study, or has fewer than three students enrolled, then your course is not evaluated in order to protect student anonymity. If your course does not meet the above exclusions, then please check your clutter folder in your HCU email account for the emails.

Question: I am in the process of completing my evaluations, but I noticed that the wrong courses are listed. How do I fix this?
Answer: Please email Danny Muntean (dmuntean@hc.edu). He will assist you in making sure you are able to evaluate the correct courses.

Question: Are my responses anonymous?
Answer: Yes, students will not be identified by name with their submissions.

Question: Why am I still receiving email messages?
Answer: Reminder email messages will be received until all surveys have received responses.

Question: I missed the deadline. Am I still able to submit an evaluation?
Answer: Once the course evaluation deadlines passes for a particular semester, it cannot be re-opened or receive late evaluations.

Active Administration Capabilities

Faculty members possess the capability to monitor completion rates for each of their courses on their faculty portal page. Here is a support article on viewing response rates. Please note that faculty cannot identify which students have submitted an evaluation.

Accessing Faculty Reports: 

To view personal faculty reports, please log into the Anthology – Campus Labs faculty portal.

All faculty members can access their faculty reports as far back as Fall 2017 on the Anthology (Campus Labs) faculty portal. Please note that if you have a faculty report that was generated earlier than Fall 2017, it will not be housed on the Anthology – Campus Labs platform.

If you are a Provost, Provost Administrative Assistant, Dean, Dean Administrative Assistant, and/or Program Chair, please log into the Anthology – Campus Labs administrator portal to access faculty reports within your university, college/school, or program.

The Provost and Provost Administrative Assistant user roles can access every single faculty report that is generated. Every Dean and Dean Administrative Assistant can access the faculty reports within their specific college/school. Program Chairs can access faculty reports that are within their particular program.

Missing Faculty Reports

There are a few reasons as to why a faculty member may be missing a faculty report for a course section taught in a past term or administration. If the course had fewer than three students enrolled, then the course was not evaluated in order to protect student anonymity. If the course had more than three students enrolled, then it may not have met response rate threshold requirements. Please note that Internships, Externships, Independent Studies, courses with a “HOSP” location, nursing labs that have zero credits or have a “0” as the second number in their course ID, and courses that have less than three students enrolled (that are not cross-listed) are NOT evaluated.

Houston Christian University currently uses the IDEA Teaching Essentials (2016) course evaluation survey with two additional custom questions. IDEA describes their survey as a “useful tool for gathering student feedback on how frequently an instructor exhibits each of the seven behaviors that correlate most highly with student perceptions of course and teaching excellence.” The seven behaviors include:

(1) displaying personal interest in students and their learning,

(2) finding ways to help students answer their own questions,

(3) demonstrating the importance and significance of the subject matter,

(4) making it clear how each topic fit into the course,

(5) explaining course material clearly and concisely,

(6) introducing stimulating ideas about the subject, and

(7) inspiring students to set and achieve goals which really challenge them.

In addition, students rate their own motivation, background preparation, and desire to take the course, which help account for student bias when completing the evaluation. Students also rate the course, their professor overall, and are provided with the opportunity to submit open-ended comments. Lastly, students rate whether or not they had opportunities to connect Christianity to what they were learning, and whether or not they think their instructors modeled the Christian life.

In total, the survey takes about 5-10 minutes to complete.

Which parts of term are evaluated?

During the Fall and Spring semesters, there are three parts of term that are evaluated: First 8 weeks, Second 8 weeks, and Full Term. There are seven parts of term that are evaluated in the summer: Full Term, First 8 weeks, Second 8 weeks, First 4 weeks, Second 4 weeks, First 5 weeks, and Second 5 weeks.

Timeline

1. Data is integrated into the Campus Labs portal by HCU’s data manager.
2. Campus administrator sets up each part of term as its own administration.
3. Students receive emails encouraging them to complete course evaluations for their classes that are in the specified part of term. When students receive this email, faculty receive an email as well letting them know students have access to course evaluations, informing them when the deadline is for the students, and asking them to encourage students to fill out evaluations. Students typically have anywhere from two to three weeks to complete their course evaluations
4. After the administration closes and grades are submitted to the Office Academic Records and Registration, faculty will be sent an email informing them that their faculty reports are available on their Anthology – Campus Labs faculty portal.

Please note that all emails are from the Office of the Provost. If students or faculty are not receiving these emails, then they should check their clutter folders in their HCU email accounts.

Campus Labs Support Articles:

Student Basics

Faculty Basics

Threshold Requirements

Printing Reports

Reporting Guide for Administrators

Walk Through of the Student Course Evaluation Experience