Provost

Departments and programs opt in each term. Not every course at UM is evaluated, and not all programs use this system. Check with your department chair or course evaluation administrator to confirm whether your courses are participating.

Course evaluation practices vary by unit. Some departments administer their own evaluations independently. These FAQs apply to the university course feedback survey, which is administered by the Office of the Provost in coordination with the UFA and MCFA collective bargaining agreements (CBA 10.220, 10.230). That survey uses the university's Qualtrics system.

If you are unsure which system your department or program uses, check with your department chair or course evaluation manager.

Near the end of each term, you will get an email at your UM address with the subject line "Feedback Survey for [Course Subject and Number]: [Course Name]." You will receive one email per evaluated course you are enrolled in. Open the email and click "Take the survey."

Not all courses are evaluated, and not all courses use this system. If you expected to receive a survey and did not, check with your instructor first to confirm your course is participating before contacting our office. 

Yes. You will be prompted to log in with your NetID. This confirms your identity and ensures your link is valid. Your individual responses remain anonymous.

First, check with your instructor. Not all courses are evaluated each term, and not all courses use this system.

Next, check your UMconnect student email, and search your Spam and Junk folders thoroughly.

If your instructor confirms the course should have been evaluated and you still did not receive a link, email course.evaluations@umontana.edu with:

• Your Student ID
• Course Subject and Number
• CRN (5-digit section number)
• A brief description of the issue

To help us troubleshoot delivery issues, the system tracks whether your survey invitation was sent, delivered, opened, and whether the link was accessed. If you contact us about a missing survey, we may reference this information when looking into your request. We will check your link status and have it resent if needed.

No. Each link is unique to you and your course. Sharing it would invalidate the data and may be treated as a fraudulent submission.

Your individual responses are not shared with instructors during the term. Reports are delivered after grades are submitted. Your name is never attached to your responses.

Most students complete it in about 5 minutes.

Some instructors offer extra credit for participation. Check your syllabus or ask your instructor. Save the "Thank You" email that is sent after you complete a survey, just in case extra credit is offered.

Evaluations launch near the end of the term. Part-of-term courses are launched as their end dates approach. Full-term courses are launched in the final weeks of the semester.

It depends on your unit's standards. Some units evaluate all courses by default, in which case your course evaluation manager handles everything. Other units allow faculty to select which courses they want evaluated. If that applies to you, your course evaluation manager will reach out early in the term to ask for your preferences. Either way, once evaluations are running, students receive invitations directly by email. You do not need to distribute links or collect any course information.

Contact your unit's course evaluation manager. A list of managers is available on the Download Reports page.

Survey customization happens at the department level, not by individual faculty. If your department has added custom questions, those will appear in your evaluation automatically. Contact your chair if you have questions about what is included.

Letting students know in advance and reserving 10 minutes of class time at the end of the term tends to produce the highest response rates. Some instructors offer a sliding scale of extra credit tied to class participation rates. For example, 1 point for individual completion, 2 points if 50% of the class completes it, 4 points if 75% complete it. If you use this approach, you will need to track completion yourself using an assignment in Canvas. We recommend asking students to submit the confirmation email they receive after completing the survey as proof of participation.