UB Course Evaluations is where you, as a UB student, can share your opinions about the effectiveness of the UB academic experience and provide feedback on your instructors.
Once you complete a course at UB, it's important to reflect on the experience. How effective was the teaching? Did you learn what you expected to learn? Did it meet your expectations?
When you complete a course evaluation you give instructors and administrators the tools to strengthen UB's course offerings and improve student learning across the university.
Instructors cannot see individual responses. Instructors and administrators receive a summary report that compiles responses across all students in the class. Course reports are not released for sections with response rates lower than five students. However, be sure not to include any identifiable information about yourself in open-ended answers.
Course evaluations can be completed using a web browser on any computer, tablet or smartphone, from on- or off-campus.
Students should set up their email filters to allow emails from @smartevals.com
After course evaluations are closed for the semester, UB instructors and administrators receive reports with the feedback that you and your classmates provided. This information is used to improve teaching techniques, course content and many other factors that affect the learning experience at UB.
The University at Buffalo has ownership of data from student evaluations of courses. The university may release quantitative evaluation results of core items (questions) for the courses that exceed the set minimum response rates to students with password protected access.
All courses except clinical and tutorial courses will be evaluated each semester.
Use your UBITName and password to log into UB Course Evaluations. Your UBITName and password are the same name and password you use to log into your UB email account. You can login using a web browser on any computer, tablet or smartphone, from on- or off-campus.
At any point in time, instructors and students may log into UBCE and see a list of open or upcoming evaluations.
Students have a limited amount of time to complete their course evaluations. In general, they are available during the last 1–2 weeks of class.
Students will receive an email from UBCE on the day that evaluations open. They will receive reminder emails until they complete the evaluations or until the evaluations close. They can also log into UBCE to see the evaluations that are open, completed or recently closed.
A reminder announcement is also displayed on MyUB with a link to the course evaluation site.
Students should set up their email filters to allow emails from @smartevals.com
Instructors will be prompted with an email from the UBCE at least one week before course evaluations are opened.
Instructors are encouraged to take measures to ensure a good student response rate, such as posting course evaluation reminders on UBlearns course sites and on course syllabus schedules.
Constructive feedback on course evaluations refers to providing specific and meaningful comments that aim to help improve the course, teaching methods, or learning experience. It focuses on identifying areas of strength and areas that could be enhanced, offering suggestions for improvement, and highlighting specific examples or observations.
Student identities are not connected to their responses in any way, provided no identifiable information was included in open-ended answers. However, you may want to review the FAQ "Will instructors know if a particular student has completed the evaluation for their course?".
Your course is not being evaluated at this time. Courses are evaluated during the last few weeks of the semester. Courses are listed in UB Course Evaluations with dates available as open, upcoming and recently closed.
Students may only edit or change an evaluation when course evaluations are open. Once a student submits their evaluation, they will be unable to alter their answers. A student may request that an evaluation be reset while an evaluation period is open by contacting ubce@buffalo.edu.
Instructors can monitor response rates in real time and see a percentage of students who have completed an evaluation when there are five or more respondents. Student identities are not connected to their responses in any way, provided no identifiable information was included in open-ended answers.
Instructors are interested in a high rate of completion so they can get the most from evaluation results. By monitoring response rates they can more directly encourage students to respond. However, the following resolution has been adopted regarding incentivizing and encouraging course evaluation completion:
Course evaluations can be completed using a web browser on any computer, tablet or smartphone, from on- or off-campus. You can log into UBCE at any time while evaluations are open and complete one or all of your course evaluations.
Course evaluation data is an important part of UB's commitment to academic excellence. The aggregated course-level data can help instructors: