Instructor Access

Reports can be obtained through Watermark. To gain access to survey results, follow the instructions provided below:

For Instructors

What courses are surveyed by default?
Courses are evaluated by default if they meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Course is Full-Term (14-week) and taught in the Fall or Spring semester
• Course is designated as ONP (online-program)
• Course is taught by a Tenure-Track Faculty Member or a Teaching Faculty Member

Is any course exempt from being surveyed?
Not every course will get surveyed. Per contract, tenured faculty may choose to opt out of course surveys for the spring and/or fall terms. Please note that this does not apply to courses in an online program (ONP) and summer courses. Likewise, to preserve anonymity, we do not survey courses where only one student is enrolled. 

In these cases, we encourage students to provide any feedback they have to their Department Chair. 

How do I opt out?
Only Tenured Faculty are able to opt out of course surveys. Tenured Faculty may opt out by responding to the opt out surveys administered each Fall & Spring term. No response is considered consent to survey.

Faculty that have answered the opt out survey but want to make a change to their status may email course-survey@montclair.edu for help. 

If you intend to initiate personnel activity that may require survey data, please be mindful of this decision before electing to opt out. Also note that opt outs do not apply to courses within an online program (ONP) or any courses taught during the summer.

When will I get my survey results?
Survey results are available after the semester is over and final grades have been posted, generally one to two weeks after the survey period ends. You will receive an email from course-survey@montclair.edu when your results are ready to download. 

Where can I download my survey results?

Our walkthrough with screenshots provides detailed instructions on how to get your results from Watermark Course Evaluations and Surveys (CES, formerly EvaluationKIT). In general: 

1. Navigate to Canvas: https://montclair.instructure.com/
2. Click the “Account” icon on the top left of your screen
3. Click the “Course Evaluations” link (formerly “EvaluationKIT User”) within your “Account” panel
4. Confirm that you are viewing your “Instructor” page on the top right of your screen, next to your name. If you see the word “Student”, switch to your “Instructor” page using the drop-down menu.
5. Since each department and/or college uses a different survey, you may have multiple projects to review. Click one of the project name links inside the Project Results section of your landing page to start. 
   1. This will take you to a page with links to download your reports. You will see a row for each course surveyed in the project. 
      1. Clicking “View” after each course will allow you to download a report based on that course specifically. You will have the option to download a:
         1. “PDF” report: a summary of close-ended questions only
         2. “PDF + Text” report: summary data and the comments you received on open-ended questions
      2. Selecting multiple courses and clicking “Batch Report” will allow you to download results for multiple courses at a time. Batch reports take some time to compile, so you will receive an email from CES when your batch report is ready to download.

If your Watermark landing page displays the message “no active surveys,” it is possible that you are viewing your “Student” page. Try toggling to your “Instructor” view using the link on the top right of your screen, next to your name.

If you receive a pop-up message that says “No Results Found” when attempting to download results this is not an error message. This message is an indication that there are no responses recorded for the evaluation and therefore there are no results to download.

How long will my results be available in CES?
Active Montclair employees will be able to access their survey results for at least 5 years after survey administration. Former employees lose access to CES once they separate from Montclair. It is recommended that departing staff save a copy of their survey results before they officially leave their position.

I should be associated with a course survey and I am not, or I am associated with a course survey and I should not be. How do we fix this?
Instructors are automatically associated with their courses based on course configurations in Canvas and Banner. In most cases, we only include primary instructors on a survey (as designated in Banner). Once projects are prepared, we do not make changes to instructor and/or course enrollments unless specifically requested by an instructor and/or department.

If you are one of many instructors and you want added to a survey:

• Confirm with your department that you are an instructor for that course in Banner. 
• Reach out to course-survey@montclair.edu, cc’ing your Department Chair, so we can add you to that survey. We will not add instructors to a survey until they are considered an instructor in Banner. 

If you are the only instructor and you need to be added to a course survey:

• Confirm with your department that you are considered the primary instructor in Banner. If you are not, your department will need to fix that information in Banner before any changes can be made.
• Reach out to course-survey@montclair.edu, cc’ing your Department Chair, and we will swap instructors for that survey. We will not add instructors to a survey until they are an instructor in Banner, and we will not remove the primary instructor from a survey. 

If you need to be removed from a course survey because you do not teach that course:

• Confirm with your department that you are not the primary instructor in Banner. If you are, your department will need to change that record in Banner before we can update Watermark CES.
• Reach out to course-survey@montclair.edu, cc’ing your Department Chair, and we will swap instructors for that survey. We will not remove the primary instructor from a survey. 

How can I help increase participation rates?
High participation rates increase the value of survey results. Faculty and instructors can support participation by: 

1. Providing time in-class to complete surveys where possible. 
   • For example, give students 10 minutes in the beginning or middle of class to fill out their surveys while you are out of the room. 
2. Reinforcing for students why surveys are important to you and your colleagues. 
   • For example, tell students that you read them and learn from their feedback, which helps you improve your course for future students.
3. Reminding students to look out for an email from course-survey@montclair.edu with the subject “Course Surveys Open”

Students cannot be required to complete course surveys, so incentives like extra credit, participation points, and/or assignment credit is not permitted. Likewise, students should not be asked to share proof of survey completion with anyone. 

What guidance is available to me on utilizing my survey results?
We recommend contacting your Department Chair for guidance on integrating student feedback into your curriculum. Likewise, the Office for Faculty Excellence is available to help you find ways to utilize your survey results. You may review the content on their website and/or make an appointment with a faculty developer. 

If you have difficulty accessing your survey results, please contact us at course-survey@montclair.edu.