Student Course Evaluations

Student course evaluations are an important part of our commitment to excellence and innovation in teaching and learning.  The feedback provided by students helps faculty members and administrators continually improve our courses and the quality of instruction at UMBC.

Fall 2016, the University partnered with eXplorance Inc. to use their online survey system (Blue) to distribute the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ)*.    The online survey will include both close-ended responses and open-ended Direct Instructor Feedback Form (DIFF) questions, similar to “blue sheets” used in past evaluations.  It is expected that each class survey will take approximately 10 to 20 minutes.

Survey Process and Timeline

The survey window for fall 2021 is:

November 29th – December 13th

All surveys will close at 11:59pm on the last day of the survey window.

Reports will be published after the Registrar has processed and posted all grades for students. Instructors will receive an email link to access the SCE data for their course(s).

Results of the open-ended Direct Instructor Feedback Form (DIFF’s) are included below. These can only be viewed by the instructor teaching the course. Please download and save a copy for your records. DIFF’s are only available in BLUE and are removed by the end of the next Fall or Spring semester’s evaluation period. For example:

  • Spring, prior Fall and Winter semester DIFF’s will be removed.
  • Fall, prior Spring and Summer semester DIFF’s will be removed.

The secure online system grants students 24/7 access during the evaluation period.

Students will receive an email communication from StudentCourseEvaluations@umbc.edu with a link to the surveys for classes in which they are enrolled.  Surveys may be accessed via these links or via Blackboard (see FAQ on how to access student course evaluations).

Instructors will receive an email communication from StudentCourseEvaluations@umbc.edu with a link to their courses.  This link can be used for monitoring response rates throughout the evaluation process, and to review survey results after final grades have been posted.

Email reminders will be sent to students periodically throughout the evaluation window.

Please see Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

*The SEEQ instrument was developed by Herbert W. Marsh at the University of Western Sydney in the late 1970’s and initially published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology in 1982.  The SEEQ instrument is a public instrument which is free of charge. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-8279.1982.tb02505.x/full