Skip Navigation
Search
Office of the Provost
HomeAbout CommunicationsChanges to 2025 Course Evaluations

Updated Course Evaluations coming this Spring

March 10, 2025

Dear Stony Brook faculty, instructors, and academic administrators,

Over the past two years, a dedicated group of faculty came together to lead a process to assess and revise our course evaluation questions. 

I am pleased to announce that this spring, the new course evaluation questions will be distributed to Stony Brook students. You can see a summary of the rationale and process for developing these new questions toward the end of this message.

Course evaluations for the spring semester will become available to students on Monday, April 21.

As usual, faculty and instructors will have the opportunity to add their own questions for their courses.

Updated Questions

Beginning this spring, students will be asked 10, rather than 13, questions. New questions are in bold. Five questions did not change. 

  1. The instructor clearly communicated what was expected of me in this course and the rules of classroom engagement. [5-point Likert scale: Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree]

  2. The instructor was effective in teaching the subject matter. [5-point Likert scale: Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree]
  3. I think the overall quality of the course was [Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor].
  4. The course content (assignments, readings, lectures, etc.) helped me meet the learning expectations set forth by the instructor. [5-point Likert scale: Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree
  5. The textbook, readings and required resources were valuable. [Agree / Disagree / I did not read the required materials / No text, readings or resources were required]

  6. The class environment was inclusive towards people of diverse backgrounds, identities, life experiences and diversity of thought. [5-point Likert scale: Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree]
  7. The methods of evaluating my work were fair. [5-point Likert scale: Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree]
  8. On average, how many hours did you spend on the course outside of class? [0-3 hours / 4-6 hours / 7-9 hours / 10+ hours]
  9. What did you find most valuable about this course? [open]
  10. In what ways could the course be improved? [open]

The Process

Stony Brook has been administering online course evaluations for more than a decade but, with the exception of questions about online learning added during the pandemic, we have not made significant changes to our evaluations.

Starting in 2023, we convened deans and hosted a series of meetings with a faculty committee. Our partners at the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching collected resources and looked at our peer institutions to establish benchmarks. In consultation with the faculty committee, we began drafting new questions and soliciting feedback through meetings and surveys to faculty, administrators and students. After discussing the results of those surveys, faculty voted on the penultimate list of questions, and the committee approved the final questions.

Throughout this process, I have been gratified to see the dedication and interest of the committee and the support given to them by CELT staff. I am confident that this updated evaluation will result in better information for our faculty and instructors, and enhance Stony Brook’s assessment efforts.

Sincerely, 

Carl W. Lejuez
Executive Vice President and Provost