Provost

Near the end of each term, you may receive an email invitation to evaluate each course you are enrolled in. Your feedback helps shape how courses are taught at UM.

What to expect

• The email subject line begins "Feedback Survey for" and includes the course name and section number.
• Each course has its own survey link. The link is unique to you, so please do not share it.
• Log in with your NetID. The survey takes about 5 minutes.
• After you submit, you will receive a confirmation email. Keep it if your instructor offers credit for participation.
• Reminders are sent until the survey closes.
• If you are enrolled through an extended credit program, your invitation may go to the personal email address on file rather than your UM address.

Not every course is evaluated every term, and not every unit uses this system. If you expected a survey and did not receive one, ask your instructor whether the course is participating. If it is, email course.evaluations@umontana.edu with your Student ID, the course name and number, and the 5-digit section number (CRN).

You do not need to distribute links or collect anything. Students receive their invitations directly at their UM email address, one for each course and instructor.

To support participation, tell students in advance to bring a device, and reserve about 10 minutes of class time near the end of the term for them to complete the survey.

Your reports come from your unit's course evaluation manager. Contact information is on the Unit Evaluation Managers page.

How the process works each term

1. The Office of the Provost receives enrollment and instructor data from Banner for the term. 
2. Units confirm which sections will be evaluated using the Opt-In form that is distributed via email. A section is identified by its CRN and the instructor's ID, so a co-taught course can be evaluated for each instructor.
3. Students receive a personalized invitation for each opted-in section. Reminders are sent until the survey closes.
4. When the survey closes, results are available to course evaluation managers for download and distribution to faculty. To access Qualtrics for the first time, sign in to this link with your NetID and password to provision your account.

Summer terms

All summer courses are evaluated by default, so no opt-in action is needed from departments. The Office of the Provost contacts two groups directly: instructors teaching multiple sections in centralized programs, and instructors teaching online in units that otherwise use paper evaluations.

Fall 2025 and forward: Contact your unit's course evaluation manager.

Spring 2023 to Summer 2025 (prior Qualtrics system): Contact your unit's course evaluation administrator.

Fall 2020 to Fall 2022 (Blue Course Evaluations): Email course.evaluations@umontana.edu.

Per an agreement with the UFA and MCFA, submission of evaluation reports from Blue and Qualtrics was optional for Spring 2020 and the 2022-2023 academic year. Faculty undergoing evaluation addressing those periods are encouraged to note this in their IPR.

Departments and programs opt in each term, so not every course at UM is evaluated and not every program uses this system. In summer terms, most courses are evaluated by default. To confirm whether your courses are participating, check with your department chair or course evaluation manager.

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

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

Every student sees the same seven core questions. Departments may add their own questions, which appear in the survey for that department's courses only.

Near the end of the term, you will get an email at your UM address. The subject line follows this format: "Feedback Survey for..." followed by information unique to your course. You will receive one email for each evaluated course and instructor. Open the email and click "Take the survey."

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

You will receive a separate survey for each instructor, so you can respond to each one individually.

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.

Yes. Reminders are sent until you complete the survey or the survey closes.

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, including your Spam and Junk folders.

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

• 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. 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 confirmation email you receive after completing a survey 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, and full-term courses are launched in the final weeks of the semester.

In summer, surveys open three days before a course's end date and stay open through the end of the summer term. They are launched in batches by session.

It depends on your unit's standards. Some units evaluate all courses by default, in which case your course evaluation administrator handles everything. Other units allow faculty to select which courses are evaluated, and your administrator will contact you early in the term 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.

Ask your unit's course evaluation administrator. If you co-teach a course, each instructor is evaluated separately and students receive a separate survey for each.

Contact your unit's course evaluation manager. 

Customization happens at the department level, not by individual faculty. If your department has added questions, they 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 near 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 percent of the class completes it, and 4 points if 75 percent 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.