Student responses to course evaluations are kept strictly confidential. Once faculty have submitted their grades for the semester, they will see a report with only the means and standard deviations of the quantitative responses, as well as any submitted text comments. No student information is included in the report.

Your instructor may set aside a time to conduct the Learning Experience Evaluation in class. He or she should notify you in advance of the date and time. Because the evaluation is hosted online, you need to bring your laptop or any Internet-enabled device to class to complete it. Please consult your instructors regarding their policies on using electronic devices during class time.

On the evaluation date, you should access your evaluation form by following a link embedded in an email from c-evals@usc.edu. Alternatively, you can follow a link under the Course Evaluations tab in Brightspace.

Your instructor will select a student to proctor the evaluation process. The protocol for the student proctor is provided in the email(s) notifying you to complete your evaluation. The protocol is also provided below.

If you have agreed to serve as Student Proctor for the Learning Experience Evaluation, once your instructor has left the classroom, please take approximately 15 minutes to do the following:

1. Read the following statement out loud:

Learning Experience Evaluations are your opportunity to provide feedback to your instructor. USC and its faculty take these evaluations very seriously, as they provide valuable information that faculty and schools can use to improve teaching. It is important to remember that the learning process is collaborative and requires significant effort from the instructor, individual students, and the class as a whole. Please provide a thoughtful assessment of their experience, as well as of their own effort, with comments focused on specific aspects of instruction or the course. Comments on personal characteristics of the instructor are not appropriate and will not be considered. Evaluations should be completed individually with no undue influence by either a student or instructor. Should any inappropriate behavior occur, it will be reported to the Office of Institutional Research.

2. Complete your own evaluation.
3. Observe the evaluation process to ensure all students complete the survey individually, with no undue influence from either another student or an instructor. Should anyone attempt to assert influence over the process, please contact the Office of Institutional Research at c-evals@usc.edu.
4. Conduct a poll, using a raise of hands, to determine how many students have completed the evaluation. Encourage students to complete the evaluation until approximately 80% of students in attendance indicate they have completed.
5. Notify the instructor when approximately 80% of students have completed and return to your class.
6. If your instructor decides to continue the evaluation for a few more minutes, please continue your role as a proctor until the instructor resumes classes.

Your instructor (and any TA) will step out of the room (after the protocol is briefed) so that you can fill out your responses. This is VERY IMPORTANT. You do not want your instructor or teaching assistant(s) to be in class during the evaluation. Your instructor should allow you between 10 and 15 minutes to complete your evaluation.

Your instructor and the teaching assistant(s) will return to class after 10 or 15 minutes. Your instructor may choose to extend the time it takes to complete the evaluation.

If you are not able to complete the evaluation in class, please do so outside of class by following the instructions above to access your evaluation survey(s).

With a few differences, the process for online courses is similar to the process for on-campus classes. Your instructor will select a student proctor to observe the evaluation process when this is feasible. Alternatively, your instructor will inform you of the evaluation process. He or she may choose to leave his or her desk or black out the computer screen while you complete your evaluations. You should not be able to see your instructor. Similarly, TA(s) (if any) cannot be present.

If you experience or observe any pressure from your instructors (TAs included) and/or your fellow classmates to coerce your feedback or to prevent you from expressing your full points of view, please contact the Office of Institutional Research immediately at c-evals@usc.edu.

You can complete your evaluation at any time during the evaluation period. Although your instructor will schedule a class time to formally conduct the evaluation, you are welcome to complete your evaluation before. The university’s goal is an 80 percent response rate, so every response counts.

Once they become available, you may access your learning experience evaluations in one of two ways:

1. Email

You will receive three emails throughout the nine-day evaluation period. The first email will be sent on the first day your evaluations become available. A reminder is emailed four days into the evaluation period. The third and last email is sent seven days into the evaluation period.

All three of these emails contain a link to the list of available learning experience evaluations. Your link will say “Complete Your learning experience evaluations.” Click on the link to open a new window with a list of your available learning experience evaluations. Select the course you would like to evaluate and click the link to access the course evaluation survey.

View example List of Course Evaluations

2. Brightspace

You may also access your available course evaluations through your Brightspace account. Log in to Brightspace, and from the upper right corner of the homepage, click on “Tools” and from the dropdown shown, click on the “Course Evaluations” tab.
When you have courses available to evaluate, the links will be listed here. If you have no available courses, you will see the following message: “There are currently no active evaluations. Evaluations that have already closed or that have yet to be opened will not be visible. Please reach out to courseevals@usc.edu should you have any questions.”

Emails are scheduled to be sent automatically. Try searching your inbox for emails from c-evals@usc.edu with the “Learning Experience” subject line. Please check your USC email address.

You may also want to log in to Brightspace and check your evaluation links under the Tools -> Course Evaluations tab. If you still do not see your evaluations, please email c-evals@usc.edu with the following info:

Subject: Student – No Evaluation Link
Message: Your USC username and the five-digit section number for the course.

The window for course evaluations is calculated based on the session in which your course occurs. For most semester-long courses, course evaluations will generally be available during the last nine (9) days before the university’s final exam period. Your instructor can modify the evaluation window, so please keep in mind that your course(s) may be evaluated at a time other than this.

You will receive an email at your USC email address when one or more of your courses becomes available for evaluation. As soon as you receive emails requesting your feedback, you can start filling out your evaluations.

Each evaluation window will generally close at 11:59 PM Pacific time on the due date.

If you do not see your evaluation on Brightspace, it means that you do not have any active evaluations, or your evaluations might have closed or have not opened yet. Please reach out to courseevals@usc.edu should you have any questions.

If you have multiple instructors for one course, you will be able to select their names from a list and evaluate each one within your survey.

Email USC Course Evaluations at c-evals@usc.edu. Please provide the name of the course and the five-digit section number if possible. Explain the problem you are having and we will be happy to assist you. You may also respond directly to any course evaluation email you have received.