Course evaluations provide students the opportunity to share their learning experiences with their instructors and UNLV, and are a valuable metric in ensuring that the institution is meeting its mission to serve students. On behalf of the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, the Office of Decision Support administers course evaluations for all non-professional school academic units using Blue Explorance software.
All sections of organized instruction are required to be evaluated during the Fall and Spring semesters. Data from MyUNLV is uploaded to create the course evaluations in Blue. Regular data uploads are scheduled throughout the evaluation cycle to capture changes in enrollment, instructor assignments and class offerings.
Need help?
Questions about the course evaluation process, access, or reports can be sent to the Course Evaluation Team.
Important Information
How evaluations are administered, when they run, and when reports are available.
Evaluation Process
Data from MyUNLV is regularly uploaded to Blue, the platform used to administer course evaluations at UNLV. Any incorrect information in Blue will need to be corrected in MyUNLV for it to be reflected in Blue.
Regular Semester Evaluations
Evaluations for regularly scheduled (i.e. semester long) classes will open 3 weeks prior to the start of study week and close at 11:59pm on the Sunday before study week begins. Content blocking in Canvas will go into effect during the last week of the evaluation window, and will be removed when the evaluation is completed, after the following data sync between Blue and Canvas if the evaluation is opted out, or when the evaluation expires.
Summer Evaluations
Unlike the regular semester, evaluations during the summer are optional and will be scheduled according to the request of the academic unit, or instructor if their academic unit did not request summer evaluations.
Course Evaluation Reports
Reports are generated at the end of each evaluation cycle (Note: all summer sessions are part of the same cycle) and will be distributed no earlier than at least a week after grades are due to the Registrar's Office. Instructors and their supervisors will be notified by email when reports are ready.
Additional Information
Students
- Course evaluations are confidential. The Office of Decision Support does not release which students participate in the course evaluation process, unless in an extreme situation where Student Conduct should be informed.
- Course evaluations can be conveniently accessed in WebCampus, MyUNLV and Blue, and by email link, and also may be saved and edited during the evaluation window. No changes or extensions are allowed after the evaluations close.
- Feedback should be honest and respectful. Any negative comments should be constructive and avoid insults.
- Results are shared with instructors, department chairs and deans after grades have posted in MyUNLV for the term. Responses to multiple choice questions are aggregated and any open-ended comments will appear exactly as written in random order on course evaluation reports.
Faculty
- Can confirm the exact dates that their classes will be evaluated and resend open evaluation emails to any of their students that have not completed their course evaluations.
- Monitor response rates for their classes while evaluations are open. At least three students must submit their course evaluation for a report to be created.
- Are responsible for verifying that they are correctly assigned to evaluated classes. Instructor assignments must be corrected in MyUNLV in order for the change to be reflected in Blue and on students' evaluations.
Administration
- Monitor response rates for classes in their area while evaluations are open. Level of granularity will vary according to the individual's area of responsibility.
- Have access to various types of reports, which includes individual instructor reports by class, aggregated report by area and export reports to use for internal analysis. Additional types of reports may also be available.
- Coordinate with the Course Evaluation Team to ensure that all of the class sections and instructors are correctly scheduled to be evaluated each evaluation cycle.
Quick Resource Repository
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Course Evaluation Process (PDF)
A concise overview of the course evaluation process, evaluation windows, reminders, content blocking, and reporting.
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How WebCampus/Canvas content blocking works during the evaluation period.