Student Course Evaluations
The Faculty Affairs Department administers course evaluations each trimester across all Graziadio campuses and programs to assess course quality, pedagogy, instructor preparedness, and responsiveness. The evaluations consist of a standard set of questions and allows students to provide additional comments. Students receive course evaluations through their Pepperdine email addresses with a direct access link and can also access evaluations through their Wavenet account. Reminders are sent every four days until completion.
Faculty members receive initial course evaluation notifications by email at the beginning of the term and additional notifications while the evaluations are open, indicating the student completion ratio. To maintain confidentiality, Faculty Affairs cannot share names of students who have completed the survey with instructors; however, students can choose to notify the instructor upon survey completion through an optional checkbox within the software.
Evaluation Open and Close Dates
| Program | Open Date | Close Date | Release Date to Faculty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive |
3 days before the last course meeting date |
3 days after the last course meeting date |
7 days after the last final grade due date that is set for the full-term courses |
|
Full Term |
14 days prior to the end of the term | Last day of the term | 7 days after the last final grade due date that is set for the full-term courses *Pending all grades are submitted on time |
| Session A&B | 10 days prior to the end of the session | Last day of the session |
7 days after the last final grade due date that is set for the session |
*See term dates
Evaluation Date Changes
Individual adjustments to the course evaluation schedule can impact timely release of final grades for all students. To ensure equity and consistency, exceptions are not typically made for individual classes unless there are extenuating circumstances and the requested adjustments have minimal impact on the overall process.
Viewing Student Evaluation Feedback
The aggregated results of all student course evaluations for the term are released to faculty 7 days after the last final grade due date that is set for the full-term courses. Faculty are able to access their complete evaluation schedule, preview the surveys, and view the results in the course evaluation system. To access the online course evaluation system, log in to WaveNet and ensure "view as faculty" is selected. Select the "Academic Resources" menu and select the "Online Course Evaluations" link.
Academic Integrity and Course Evaluations
If a faculty member identifies a violation of academic integrity, the faculty member may request to the course evaluation administrator, Jaime Quillen, that the student's evaluation be removed. The request must be approved by the Department Chair and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs along with confirmation the violation is documented in the student's file.
Best Practices for Encouraging Students to Complete Evaluations
- Use time in class to call attention to the course evaluation, review the course material covered throughout the term and offer time for students to complete evaluations using a laptop or mobile device as long as it is not disruptive to your lesson plan.
- Monitor real-time response rates through course evaluation interface in Wavenet, leveraging this information to further encourage student participation and completion of surveys.
- Inform students about the purpose of evaluations:
- Explain how faculty utilize feedback to identify effective course elements.
- Emphasize that their input contributes to course improvements.
- Provides examples of past feedback and resulting course enhancements to demonstrate the tangible impact of their participation.
- Include course evaluations in your syllabus as an assignment, without graded points, emphasizing its purpose to gather feedback rather than assess learning outcomes.
- Offer incentives for students to encourage a broad and representative response. Examples
of incentives may include:
- Up to an additional 1% of extra credit points (of overall grade) to all students for completion of the survey or achieving a specific response rate.
- Faculty may request evidence that an evaluation has been completed by asking the students to check "Send proof of evaluation" at the end of the survey within the CoursEval interface.
- Incentives should not be punitive, such as lowering a student's grade or deducting participation points as a consequence of not completing the evaluation.