Course Evaluations

UCSF Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs course evaluation is performed using the Eval25 system from CollegeNET. This cloud-based system was adopted initially during the fall 2017 term. Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs administers the system for the campus. The Eval25 system dynamically creates evaluations for students to complete in real time and comprises different question sets depending on course characteristics. The program administrator of each program provides the evaluation questions.

Question Sets

The question structure for all evaluations is as follows:

  1. Institution questions
  2. Program questions (customizable)
  3. Course-specific questions (customizable)
  4. Instructor evaluation questions
  5. Instructor-created questions (customizable)

1. Institution Question Set

An institution question set was developed by Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs for use in all evaluations across all programs. This set consists of the five questions below, which cannot be changed:

Institution Questions
  1. The overall learning environment was inclusive of all people.
    • Why did you choose this answer regarding the inclusive learning environment?  How could your experience have been improved?
  2. Student questions and participation were encouraged.
  3. The course developed my ability to think critically about the subject.
    • How could the course be otherwise structured in order to better develop your critical thinking skills about the subject?
  4. Assessments related to the course learning objectives/outcomes.
  5. This course was useful in progression toward my degree.
    • How could this course be structured differently in order to relate more to your degree objective?

2. Program-defined Question Sets

This common question set is asked across all courses which are under the purview of that program. Roughly 70% to 80% of the question sets are based on the program, department, or subject of a course. Likewise, those units make the decisions on the bulk of the questions to ask. Programs or subject groups may decide to include additional question sets, or not. Some have used other characteristics such as type (lab, lec, sem, etc.), course number, or level (eg. all BIOE or all 400-level courses) to define question sets.

3. Course-specific Question Sets

This question set pertains directly to the course being evaluated. It differs from the program set in that these questions are not asked across many courses. These questions are beneficial when you want to collect specific information about a course.

NOTE: When designing your evaluation questions, think about writing questions that are actionable. In addition, it is highly advised that questions remain consistent across all terms in order to provide you with the best longitudinal reporting. Using different questions each term will limit the reporting functions within the system.

4. Instructor Evaluation Question Set

The instructor has a predefined question set. This set acts much like the institution questions, in that the questions are asked across all courses, as well as for each instructor and co-instructor who taught the course. Guest lecturers cannot be included in this type of evaluation as this information is pulled directly from the course catalog. Only instructors listed as teaching the course in the course review system can be evaluated. Additionally, while all instructors are able to see results for the question blocks above, this question block is repeated for each instructor teaching the course, and instructors can see only the responses for their own block. Program directors and deans are able to generate reports that includes the responses for all instructors in a course.

This set of questions cannot be changed as it is shared across multiple programs.

Instructor Questions
  1. The instructor presented content in an organized manner. (Likert)
  2. The instructor's teaching methods were effective throughout the course. (Likert)
  3. The instructor explained concepts clearly. (Likert)
  4. The instructor's feedback to you was helpful and improved your understanding of the material. (Likert)
  5. The instructor related to students as individuals. (Likert)
  6. The instructor's lecture/presentation added valuable knowledge to your skillset. (Likert)
  7. Do you have specific comments for the instructor? (Open-ended)

5. Instructor Defined Question Sets

All instructors are able to create their own questions (up to four) to ask of a single class or many of their classes. Instructors use this to ask pedagogical or outcome-specific questions. Instructors are notified that they can add their own questions approximately 7-10 days before the evaluation period opens.