Well over 90% of all credit bearing classes are evaluated. Courses may be intentionally excluded, at the request of the department, often because they are very small or are a very unconventional type of class.  On rare occasions, a class may have been accidentally missed. 

Please check with your instructor as soon as possible.  If you think your class should be evaluated, please let us know at helpdesk@boisestate.edu the course, section number, and instructor so that we can look into it.

We treat your anonymity very seriously and protect it on multiple levels.  First, the only way responses can be viewed by your instructor is with all identifying information about the student removed. We also ensure that grading will not be influenced by summary results. Instructors are not able to view the course evaluation reports until at least two days after the due date requiring instructors to submit grades.  This due date is some time after all class activities have ended.   

Rules prohibit the release of identifying information except in situations where threatening or harassing comments are made. Policy 4300 states that, “In the event of a University investigation and in compliance with relevant laws, the Provost may determine that the student evaluator’s name may be revealed to the relevant parties.”

Unfortunately, we are not able to reopen or extend an evaluation period once it has closed.  Because of this, our evaluation messaging provides multiple warnings to the student reiterating the end date for the evaluation period. 

If you miss the window to evaluate a course, we recommend that instead you send an email to the chairperson of the department that manages the course. The chairperson evaluates the instructor each year and makes personnel decisions. Let them know about the strengths and weaknesses of the course and instructor. Ask the chair to keep your identify confidential if they discuss your feedback with the instructor.

If the link took you to a page that says the evaluation period is over, then you will not be able to fill out the online evaluation.  We recommend that you send an email with your feedback to the chair of the department that manages the course and instructor.  

On the other hand, if the link took you directly to an error page, then it is probably a browser or cache issue.  Please try one or all of the following: 

(A)  First, clear your browser cache.  Here are instructions for clearing your cache using various popular browsers.

(B)  Second, try using a different Browser or Incognito Browser.

(C) Third, try using a different computer.

There are two primary purposes and audiences for course evaluations.  First, the evaluation feedback is for the instructor to identify ways to improve the course and their teaching.  Second, the feedback is for the department Chair and college Dean to evaluate the instructor’s teaching performance.  Thus, your feedback informs the personnel decisions made in the college.

The instructor is notified two days after the grade submission deadline that they can view the compiled, anonymous course evaluation results. Department chairs may also review the evaluation results at that time.  All chairs, however, review the evaluation results for instructors of classes in their program on an annual basis in the early spring.

You are welcome to reach out to the Department/Department Chair at any time to schedule an appointment and discuss your concerns with them.  However, rest assured they will see the evaluation feedback regarding the instructors in their Department as part of their annual process.

If you have dropped or withdrawn from the course, please do not evaluate the class.  In addition, if you dropped the course more than one week before the evaluation started, yet received an email to evaluate that course, please check with your instructor or the Registrar right away.  This may indicate that you were not completely withdrawn! 

If you are auditing a course, you may go ahead and complete the course evaluation for it.

we are constrained by the fact that faculty members can start submitting grades before the class is over. Thus we open up course evaluations for the last week or two of classes, and close them before the Grade Submission Due date. It is important that grades should not influence evaluations (or vice versa.)  

The due date for students to complete the evaluation is based on extensive research that tells us that finals week is one of the worst times for universities to expect students to complete the evaluation.  The stress level is high, and many students have extra workload preparing for the final exam/project. This is the reason we end the evaluation period before finals week begins. At the same time, the date set to release evaluation results to faculty is based on the date that instructors must submit their grades. In other words, the deadline for completion by students and the date that faculty can access results are not directly related, they are based on different rationale.

We completely agree with you that faculty should not have access to students' responses prior to the time final grades are due.  To that end, evaluations are timed to prevent faculty access to evaluation results until after final grades have been submitted.  No faculty may see the evaluation results until two days after the Grade Submission Date.  

The due date for students to complete the evaluation is based on extensive research that tells us that finals week is one of the worst times for universities to expect students to complete the evaluation due to the high stress level and, for many students, the extra workload required for preparing for the final exam/project. This is the reason we end the evaluation period before finals week begins. At the same time, the date set to release evaluation results to faculty is based on the date that instructors must submit their grades. In other words, the deadline for completion by students and the date that faculty can access results are not directly related, they are based on different rationale.

If you have a class listed to evaluate that you did not enroll in, please do not fill out the evaluation.  We need to research the issue and fix it right away.   Please let us know the course number, section and instructor, as well as whether you had earlier enrolled and withdrawn from the the course some time during the semester.  We also recommend that you check with the Registrar regarding whether you are officially registered or not for the class.

If you have a class listed to evaluate that has the wrong instructor, please let your instructor know.  In addition, contact helpdesk@boisestate.edu with the course number and section, as well as the name of the instructor who is actually teaching your class.  We need to research the issue and fix it right away.