FAQs: Administering Evaluations

NEW! I would like my students to complete the course evaluations on a specific day or time. How do I set a custom survey availability window?

As of Fall 2024, faculty members are able to set “custom survey availability windows” for their course evaluations. These custom windows must be set on the course evaluations platform before the standard open evaluation period begins (12:01 AM on the Monday of the 2nd to last week of classes). In all circumstances, once a survey becomes available to students, it will remain available until the standard open evaluation period ends at 11:59 PM on the last day of classes.

Review these instructions about setting custom survey availability windows for more information.

How do I access and navigate the online course evaluation system?

You will use your Lafayette SSO to login to the Anthology Course Evaluations system. The login link can be found at multiple access points:

  • By following the “Anthology Course Evaluations Login” link in the right-side menu of this webpage.
  • Under the “Manage My Courses” block through MyLafayette for faculty.
    • For students, a link to Anthology Course Evaluations will be found in their “Taking Courses” block on MyLafayette.
  • By following the login link in any automated email sent by Anthology Course Evaluations (sender name: Laf Course Evals) to faculty and/or students.

Please view the Instructor Experience video or the Department Administrator Experience video, whichever is appropriate, to gain an understanding of your view of the course evaluation dashboard when you login. (Note: These videos refer to the system under its prior moniker, My CoursEval.)

When can students complete their evaluations?

Students are able to complete course evaluations at any point during the open evaluation periods that are held at the end of a term. Check the Important Dates page for information about upcoming open periods for course evaluations. Faculty are expected to devote 15 minutes of class time to administer evaluations during this open period. 

It may be helpful to inform students of the day you plan to allow time for evaluations to be completed in class before the evaluation periods open. 

When will students be sent the link for course evaluations?

Students will be sent an automated email (sender name: Laf Course Evals) on the first day of the evaluation open period from Anthology Course Evaluations with their list of courses to be evaluated this semester as well as the link to log-in to the Anthology Course Evaluations system.

Students can also go to courseevals.lafayette.edu and access course evaluations by clicking “Anthology Course Evaluations Login” on the right side menu or find the Anthology Course Evaluations link in the “Taking Classes” block on their MyLafayette portal. 

Students will also be sent automated reminder emails from Anthology every 3 days once the evaluation period opens, plus one on the final day of the evaluation period, informing them of which courses they have not yet evaluated until all of their course evaluations are completed or the evaluation period closes, whichever comes first.

How do I administer evaluations?

Ask students to login to see their evaluations through (1) the Lafayette Course Evaluations website, (2) one of the emails that was generated and sent to them by the Anthology Course Evaluations system (sender name: Laf Course Evals), or (3) the course evaluations link under the “Taking Classes” block on their MyLafayette portal. 

Once logged in, students will see a list of all of their courses that are being evaluated. They will select your specific course and begin the evaluation.

You may also send your students a direct link for your courses. After you have logged in to Anthology, copy the Share Link listed under your course and send it to your students. Note: The link will appear to not work for you, however, it will work for your students once they sign in and the system recognizes that they are enrolled in the course.

A student completed their evaluation of my course before I administered evaluations in class. Can students update their evaluations?

Yes, students are able to edit their course evaluations anytime during the open evaluation period by logging in to the course evaluation system and going to their completed surveys. Once the evaluation period closes, course evaluations cannot be edited or updated.

How often should I remind students to complete evaluations?

Students will be sent automated reminder emails from Anthology (sender name: Laf Course Evals) every 3 days once the evaluation period opens, plus one on the final day of the evaluation period, informing them of which courses they have not yet evaluated until all of their course evaluations are completed or the evaluation period closes, whichever comes first.

In addition, faculty members will also be sent automated emails (sender name: Laf Course Evals) from Anthology every 5 days once the evaluation period opens, plus one on the final day of the evaluation period, informing them of how many students have completed evaluations in their courses. If response rates are low after in-class administration (e.g. less than 75%), faculty are encouraged to reach out to their students and invite them to complete the course evaluation as soon as possible.

I have a course listed that I don’t want to be evaluated or I want to use my own evaluation tool. What do I do?

As per the Faculty Handbook 4.2.1.1.2.1, faculty members should email the Provost at provostoffice@lafayette.edu with their reason for not using the standard evaluation.

Upon approval, faculty members will be asked to complete a Qualtrics survey so that the Course Evaluations team is able to turn the appropriate courses off in the Anthology Course Evaluations system.

No courses can be turned off once the evaluation period opens.

I have a course missing that should be evaluated using Anthology Course Evaluations. What do I do?

Independent studies and honors courses, internships, and classes with enrollment under five are not evaluated as per the faculty handbook (4.2.1.1.2.1).

If your course does not fall within any of those categories and is missing, email courseevals@lafayette.edu and notify them of your situation.

I have students on my roster that told me they withdrew from the course. What do I do?

The student may not have officially submitted their request to withdraw from the course or the processing of their request is still on-going. It will be important for students to check that they have been officially withdrawn from the course if they are still enrolled according to Banner.

Check the College’s academic calendars for term specific withdrawal deadlines. Enrollment information will be updated regularly after the withdrawal deadline but before the start of the evaluation period.

Faculty are encouraged to check their rosters after logging in to Anthology Course Evaluations in the days preceding the evaluation period.

I am unable to login to the course evaluations site. What do I do?

Contact help@lafayette.edu or call 610-330-5501 for assistance. 

FAQs: Evaluation Reports

I’ve logged in and the system is saying “Report Unavailable” for my courses. What does that mean?

Under “My Reports” in Anthology, courses will show a large red button that says “Report Unavailable” until course evaluations are completed and results are released to faculty members. Evaluation Reports will be released after the deadline for faculty members to submit semester grades has passed.

Faculty can monitor the response rate and how many students have submitted evaluations by looking at the circular percentage “thermometer” on the right side of the screen for each course. Underneath the big red “Report Unavailable” button, the systems will say how many days are left in the evaluation period, if it is still open.

When do evaluation reports become available?

Generally, evaluation reports will be available to faculty members and department heads/program chairs several days after course grades are due. Exact timing may vary depending on office closures and when the course evaluation team receives confirmation that all course grades have been submitted. Faculty members will receive an automated notification from the system the day after reports have been made available.

Who has access to my evaluation reports?

Only individual faculty members will have access to their full evaluation reports that include student comments. Faculty members can download copies of their reports as .pdf files for their own usage and records. Individual faculty members will be able to readily access 3 variations of their reports: numerical results only, comments only, and a combined report.

Department heads and program chairs have access to numerical or quantitative data from evaluation reports for courses and faculty members within their department or program.

As per faculty vote, the practice of publishing quantitative evaluation report summaries from the prior 7 years for the Lafayette community has ended as of 7/1/23.

Where can I find previous years' evaluations?

A faculty member’s prior individual evaluation reports can be found in the system under “Evaluation Reports” in the Reports menu.

As per faculty vote, the practice of publishing quantitative evaluation report summaries from the prior 7 years for the Lafayette community has ended as of 7/1/23.

What is the important terminology to be aware of when viewing my evaluation reports?

Below are a few definitions of terms to be aware of when reviewing evaluation reports (Source: CoursEval).

  • N: The number of responses for a question.
  • Group median. (GMed): Calculated estimate of where the true median would have been had there been less granularity in the scale used. Also known as the “interpolated median” which is a useful measure for situations where the total range of answers to a question is relatively narrow (e.g. Likert scales).
  • Frequency distribution: Distribution of answers across all responses.

Are there any recommendations about how to analyze my course evaluations, including student comments?

Faculty members are welcome to analyze their course evaluation results in a myriad of ways for their own personal usage. After logging in to the system and going to Evaluation Reports under the Reports menu, faculty members can access and change the reporting parameters as desired under the “Report Options” link above their evaluation reports table. Click on the image below to expand and view all report options.Course Evaluation Report Parameters

If you would like to conduct a thematic analysis of comments within your digital evaluation results, there are some strategies that may help in that process. Please visit the page on Performing Thematic Analyses on Comments.

Is it possible to view all of the responses of a single student on my course evaluations?

Within your complete evaluation report, student responses may be randomized or may not be in the exact same response placement from question to question, such as in cases when students do not answer all qualitative questions.

When viewing the comments on your course evaluation reports in your internet browser, you may view the other responses of a student by clicking on the blue magnifying glass to the right of the response in question. Another window or tab will open showing that student’s complete evaluation response. This may be a helpful tool for thematic analysis of comments.