Three types of course evaluations are collected each semester: Student Ratings of Teaching (SRTs), TA evaluations, and graduate seminar evaluation forms. All are handled electronically.
SRTs are administered by University Survey and Assessment Services (USAS), formerly the Office of Measurement Services (OMS). Both instructors and TAs (as applicable) are individually evaluated. USAS determines the data collection window for SRTs and sends survey links to students automatically. Once the data collection window has closed and the data has been processed, results are sent to instructors automatically. Note that in cases where too few students fill out the survey, data may not be available.
The department also sends out evaluations for TAs and Graduate Seminars. Staff creates a Google Form for each TA and each seminar according to an existing template. A link to the TA evaluation form(s) is sent to the course instructor for distribution to students; this link may be posted on the course's Canvas page, and the notification of it sent via Canvas messaging. A link to the Graduate Seminar Evaluation Form is sent to each seminar instructor. These links are usually sent in the second-to-last week of classes. Results for these internal TA evaluations are available upon request, and are sent in the form of a spreadsheet detailing the form responses.
Results for Graduate Seminar Evaluations have stricter guidelines, detailed as follows:
- Evaluations for Graduate Seminars are held onto by staff for a minimum of one semester. After one semester, SRTs and seminar evaluation forms will be sent to faculty upon request if the Graduate Program Coordinator confirms that:
- All grades for the course have been submitted or
- There are no incomplete (I) or not reported (NR) grades for political science graduate students in the course.
Courses with outstanding I or NR grades will continue to be stored by staff to be checked again for return the next semester.