Course Surveys

As part of Montclair’s effort to continuously improve, the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness (OIRE) administers optional and anonymous course surveys to our students each fall and spring. 

Which courses do you normally survey?
By default, we survey all full-term courses that run during the spring and fall semesters. Surveys for non-full term courses, or courses that run during the summer or winter, must be requested by your department. If you want to request a survey for one of your courses, please contact course-survey@montclair.edu at least one month before your course is scheduled to end. We run requested surveys at our discretion, and we cannot accommodate projects requested after this deadline.

When are course surveys administered?
OIRE begins preparing survey projects two months before surveys open. 

Course surveys open approximately one to two weeks before the last day of class, and close a couple of days after classes end. Faculty get access to their survey results approximately one week after surveys close, after final grades have been posted. 

Students, instructors, and administrators will receive an email from provost-msu@montclair.edu one week prior to surveys opening. 

• Emails with “Instructor Notice” in the subject notify instructors that the course they teach is scheduled for survey.
• Emails with “Administrator Notice” in the subject notify department and college administrators that one or more of the courses in their unit are scheduled for survey. 

The timeline for full-term courses in academic year 2024-25 is below: 

What survey is being administered?
Each college and/or department uses their own survey. You can find out which survey(s) are being administered for your course(s) by searching through our Course Survey inventory. Note: you must have Montclair credentials to log in to our inventory.

How are results used?
Course survey results are used to improve curriculum and instruction at Montclair. Instructors use survey results to enhance their teaching and improve classroom experiences. Administrators take survey results into consideration when making departmental decisions regarding reappointment and promotion.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Information for students is available in our For Students section.

Information for instructors is available in our For Instructors section.

Information for administrators is available in our For Administrators section.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Where can I find my course surveys?
Surveys are administered online using the Watermark Course Evaluations and Surveys platform, which is integrated with Canvas (CES – formerly EvaluationKIT). You will receive emails from provost-msu@montclair.edu with direct links to your surveys, as well as a pop-up message in Canvas. 

Some of my courses do not have a survey. Why?
Not every course will get surveyed. Per contract, tenured faculty may choose to opt out of course surveys for the fall and/or spring terms. Likewise, we will not ask you to give us feedback if you are the only student enrolled in your course. You may email course-survey@montclair.edu to find out why your course is not being surveyed. 

We encourage you to give your feedback to your Department Chair when you are unable to give feedback via survey.

I made a mistake on the survey after I submitted. Can I fix it?
If the survey period has not ended, you can email course-survey@montclair.edu and we will reset your survey for you. However, if the survey period has ended, we cannot reopen your survey. 

I forgot to submit my survey before the survey window closed. Can you reopen it?
Unfortunately we cannot reopen surveys once the survey window closes. We encourage you to give your feedback to your Department Chair when you are unable to give feedback via survey. 

Will my professor know which survey is mine?
We have policies in place to ensure your responses remain anonymous: 

• We do not survey courses in which only one student is enrolled. 
• Instructors get their survey reports after the semester is over and final grades have been posted.
• Reports are de-identified. 

What happens if I don’t submit a survey?
Survey participation is optional but highly encouraged. If you do not submit a survey, we will not be able to use your feedback to improve the course experience for students in the future. Your final grade, ability to receive credit for your course(s), and/or ability to register for next semester will not be impacted.

Is any course exempt from survey?
Not every course will get surveyed. Per contract, tenured faculty may choose to opt out of course surveys for the spring and/or fall terms. Please note that this does not apply to courses in an online program (ONP) and summer courses. Likewise, to preserve anonymity, we do not survey courses where only one student is enrolled. 

In these cases, we encourage students to provide any feedback they have to their Department Chair. 

How do I opt out?
By default, all full-term fall and spring courses are surveyed. Only tenured professors are able to opt out of course surveys. Tenured professors may opt out by responding to our opt out surveys, which get administered each term. No response is considered consent to survey.

Faculty that have answered our opt out survey but want to make a change to their status may email course-survey@montclair.edu for help. 

If you intend to initiate personnel activity that may require survey data, please be mindful of this decision before electing to opt out. Also note that opt outs do not apply to courses within an online program (ONP) or any courses taught during the summer.

When will I get my survey results?
Survey results are available after the semester is over and final grades have been posted, generally one to two weeks after the survey period ends. You will receive an email from provost-msu@montclair.edu when your results are ready to download. 

Where can I download my survey results?
Our walkthrough with screenshots provides detailed instructions on how to get your results from Watermark Course Evaluations and Surveys (CES, formerly EvaluationKIT). In general: 

1. Navigate to Canvas: https://montclair.instructure.com/
2. Click the “Account” icon on the top left of your screen
3. Click the “Course Evaluations” link (formerly “EvaluationKIT User”) within your “Account” panel
4. Confirm that you are viewing your “Instructor” page on the top right of your screen, next to your name. If you see the word “Student”, switch to your “Instructor” page using the drop-down menu.
5. Since each department and/or college uses a different survey, you may have multiple projects to review. Click one of the project name links inside the Project Results section of your landing page to start. 
   1. This will take you to a page with links to download your reports. You will see a row for each course surveyed in the project. 
      1. Clicking “View” after each course will allow you to download a report based on that course specifically. You will have the option to download a:
         1. “PDF” report: a summary of close-ended questions only
         2. “PDF + Text” report: summary data and the comments you received on open-ended questions
      2. Selecting multiple courses and clicking “Batch Report” will allow you to download results for multiple courses at a time. Batch reports take some time to compile, so you will receive an email from CES when your batch report is ready to download.

If your Watermark landing page displays the message “no active surveys,” it is possible that you are viewing your “Student” page. Try toggling to your “Instructor” view using the link on the top right of your screen, next to your name.

If you have difficulty accessing your survey results, please contact us at course-survey@montclair.edu. 

How long will my results be available in CES?
Active Montclair employees will be able to access their survey results for at least 5 years after survey administration. Former employees lose access to CES once they separate from Montclair. It is recommended that departing staff save a copy of their survey results before they officially leave their position.

I should be associated with a course survey and I am not, or I am associated with a course survey and I should not be. How do we fix this?
Instructors are automatically associated with their courses based on course configurations in Canvas and Banner. In most cases, we only include primary instructors on a survey (as designated in Banner). Once projects are prepared, we do not make changes to instructor and/or course enrollments unless specifically requested by an instructor and/or department.

If you are one of many instructors and you want added to a survey:

• Confirm with your department that you are an instructor for that course in Banner. 
• Reach out to course-survey@montclair.edu, cc’ing your Department Chair, so we can add you to that survey. We will not add instructors to a survey until they are considered an instructor in Banner. 

If you are the only instructor and you need added to a course survey:

• Confirm with your department that you are considered the primary instructor in Banner. If you are not, your department will need to fix that information in Banner before any changes can be made.
• Reach out to course-survey@montclair.edu, cc’ing your Department Chair, and we will swap instructors for that survey. We will not add instructors to a survey until they are an instructor in Banner, and we will not remove the primary instructor from a survey. 

If you need removed from a course survey because you do not teach that course:

• Confirm with your department that you are not the primary instructor in Banner. If you are, your department will need to change that record in Banner before we can update Watermark CES.
• Reach out to course-survey@montclair.edu, cc’ing your Department Chair, and we will swap instructors for that survey. We will not remove the primary instructor from a survey. 

How can I help increase participation rates?
High participation rates increase the value of survey results. Faculty and instructors can support participation by: 

1. providing time in-class to complete surveys where possible. 
   1. For example, give students 10 minutes in the beginning or middle of class to fill out their surveys while you are out of the room. 
2. reinforcing for students why surveys are important to you and your colleagues. 
   1. For example, tell students that you read them and learn from their feedback, which helps you improve your course for future students.
3. reminding students to look out for an email from provost-msu@montclair.edu with the subject “Course Surveys Open”

Students cannot be required to complete course surveys, so incentives like extra credit, participation points, and/or assignment credit is not permitted. Likewise, students should not be asked to share proof of survey completion with anyone. 

What guidance is available to me on utilizing my survey results?
We recommend contacting your Department Chair for guidance on integrating student feedback into your curriculum. Likewise, the Office for Faculty Excellence is available to help you find ways to utilize your survey results. You may review the content on their website and/or make an appointment with a faculty developer. 

Is any course exempt from survey?
Not every course will get surveyed. Per contract, tenured faculty may choose to opt out of course surveys for the fall and/or spring terms. Please note that this does not apply to courses in an online program (ONP) and courses taught during the summer. Likewise, to preserve anonymity, we do not survey courses where only one student is enrolled. 

You may contact course-survey@montclair.edu to verify which of your courses will be surveyed. 

When will I get my survey results?
Survey results are available after the semester is over and final grades have been posted. This tends to be one to two weeks after the survey period ends. You will receive an email from provost-msu@montclair.edu when your results are ready to download. 

Where can I download my survey results?
Our walkthrough with screenshots provides detailed instructions on how to get your results from Watermark Course Evaluations and Surveys (CES, formerly EvaluationKIT). In general: 

1. Navigate to Canvas: https://montclair.instructure.com/
2. Click the “Account” icon on the top left of your screen
3. Click the “Course Evaluations” link (formerly “EvaluationKIT User”) within your “Account” panel
4. Confirm that you are viewing your “Administrator” page on the top right of your screen. If you see the words “Student” or “Instructor”, switch to your “Administrator” page using the drop-down menu.
5. Click the “[ProjectName]” link inside the Project Results section of your landing page
   1. Select “By Course Section” to sort results by course
   2. Select “By Instructor” to sort results by instructor
6. Clicking “View” after each course will allow you to download a report for that course specifically. You will have the option to download a:
   1. “Detailed Report”: closed-ended response summaries displayed as bar charts
   2. “Detailed Report + Comments”: closed-ended bar charts and the comments received on open-ended questions
   3. “Short Report”: closed-ended responses displayed in a contingency table
   4. “Short Report + Comments”: closed-ended contingency tables and the comments received on open-ended questions
   5. “Raw Data”: de-identified survey results exported to Excel.
7. Selecting multiple courses and clicking “Batch Report” will allow you to download results for multiple courses at a time. Batch reports take some time to compile, so you will receive an email from CES when your batch report is ready to download. 

I work across multiple colleges/departments and/or with courses with various end dates. How do I know which courses are in which projects?
Courses are grouped into projects based on term, college/department, and course end date. For example, survey results from a Fall 2023 History course that ends on 12/17/2023 will be in the “202340 HIST Ending 12/17/23” project. Please note that, unless specifically requested, we do not survey courses with non-traditional terms or summer courses. 

How long will results be available in CES?
Survey results are available for at least 5 years.