Course Evaluations

Student feedback is collected using a web-based application for courses offered by Agriculture & Life Sciences, Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Human Ecology, Industrial & Labor Relations, and Physical Education. If you have questions about any of the following, please contact Mikki. CALS has a longer evaluation period than what is described below.

Spring 2024 Timeline

April 17
(Wednesday)		 Deadline for instructors to add 1 or 2 supplemental questions to their evaluation forms by sending them to Mikki at mmk8@cornell.edu.
April 29
(Monday)		 Students can start to evaluate courses. They will receive periodic reminders until they have submitted all of their evaluations. Once an evaluation has been submitted it cannot be revised.
May 10
(Friday)		 The evaluation period closes at 11:59 p.m.
early June Evaluation reports will be released to instructors and TAs after all grades have been reported.

Which Courses Are Evaluated

Course evaluations will be collected for all MATH courses, with a handful of exceptions:

  • MATH 1090 and 1104 because they are taught in Qatar.
  • MATH 4900, 4901, and 7900 because they are independent study courses.
  • MATH 4980/5080 because most students do not officially enroll.
  • MATH 7550 and 7560 because they are seminars without instructors.
  • For cross-listed courses for which MATH is not the parent course, evaluations may or may not be collected by the parent department.

Core Questions and Standard Templates

The department's Teaching Committee devised sets of core questions (included below) from which several templates were built with additional questions added to particular templates as appropriate.

Lecturer Questions

The lecturer questions are asked for all principal courses (lectures).

L1. Did the lecturer stimulate your interest in the subject? (old Q6)
1 = not at all; 5 = stimulated great interest; inspired independent effort

L2. Was the lecture presentation organized and clear? (old Q7)
1 = disorganized and unclear; 5 = very organized and lucid

L3. Was the lecturer willing and available to help you overcome difficulties in this course? (old Q8)
1 = was of no help; 5 = was very helpful

L4. Rate the overall teaching effectiveness of your lecturer compared to others at Cornell. (old Q9)
1 = worse than average; 5 = much better than average

TA Questions

The TA questions are asked for all subcourses (recitations). T2–T4 are also used for the supplemental courses taught by the Center for Learning and Teaching.

T1. Was the recitation organized and clear? (old Q10)
1 = disorganized and unclear; 5 = very organized and lucid

T2. Was the teaching assistant willing and available to help you overcome difficulties? (old Q11)
1 = was of no help; 5 = was very helpful

T3. How would you rate your teaching assistant’s command of the course material? (old Q12)
1 = poor command of material; 5 = excellent command of material

T4. What was the overall quality of your interaction with the teaching assistant? (old Q13)
1 = low, taught me little; 5 = high, extremely educational

Grader Questions

The first two grader questions, G1 and G2, are asked for all principal courses (lectures) except for supplemental courses taught by the Center for Learning and Teaching and MATH 1600. The third grader question, G3, is asked for all principal courses at the 3000 level and above.

G1. Was the homework returned in a timely manner? (NEW)
1 = never; 5 = always

G2. Were the grader’s comments helpful? (NEW)
1 = no help; 5 = very helpful

G3. If you attended the grader’s office hours, did you find them helpful? (NEW)
1 = no help; 5 = very helpful

Course Questions

The course questions C1–C4 are asked for all principal courses at the undergraduate level except for supplemental courses taught by the Center for Learning and Teaching and MATH 1600. Questions C5 and C6 are asked for those courses and also the core graduate courses. MATH 1600 asks only C1, C3, and C5.

C1. How valuable were the homework assignments? (old Q1)
1 = taught me little; 5 = extremely educational

C2. Rate the examinations in this course as a test of your knowledge. (old Q3)
1 = too easy, not adequate; 3 = adequate; 5 = too difficult, not a fair test

C3. Rate the level of difficulty of this course. (old Q4)
1 = too easy; 5 = much too hard

C4. How suitable was the textbook? (old Q5)
1 = lousy; 5 = great

C5. How many hours each week (on the average) did you spend on this course outside of class? (old Q14)
1 = less than 2 hours
2 = 2-4 hours
3 = 5-8 hours
4 = 9-15 hours
5 = 16 hours or more

C6. What was your most important reason for taking this course? (old Q15)
(Use the answer that is closest to correct.)
1 = field or major requires it
2 = prerequisite for further courses
3 = interest in the subject matter
4 = reputation of the course
5 = reputation of the instructor
6 = distribution requirement

Essay Questions

Essay question E1 is used for all principal courses except supplemental courses taught by the Learning Strategies Center. E2 is asked for all principal courses except MATH 1110 and 1120.

E1. Please comment on any aspect of this course (e.g., the lecture, text, homework, examinations, or course content). (old Essay)

E2. Would you recommend this course to other students? Please explain. (NEW)

The following is included for all subcourses (recitations): Please comment on any aspect of this recitation.