Course Evaluation Framework

Celebrating CTSI’s 10th anniversary with a countdown of teaching and learning initiatives and partnerships at U of T.

At U of T, online course evaluations collect formative data for instructors to improve their teaching; provide summative data for administrative purposes and for program and curriculum review; and provide members of the university community, including students, with information about teaching and courses at the University. CTSI’s Course Evaluations team supports individual instructors, department and divisional leaders, and senior administration with the delivery, analysis, and interpretation of course evaluation data. As well, the team actively works with divisions to implement the central Cascaded Course Evaluation Framework and system across the University.

What to know about online course evaluations at U of T:

  • The CTSI Course Evaluations team is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the online course evaluations system, including creating and maintaining evaluation sessions, updating and creating new resources and communications, addressing service questions, conducting consultations, and managing and analyzing data.
  • The Course Evaluations team engages in ongoing analyses of Course Evaluation data to support the U of T community’s understanding and interpretation of our data. Some of these completed analyses were released as part of a recent Validation Study.
  • Blue is the name of the course evaluation system used at the University of Toronto to run the online evaluations. Blue is created by explorance, a Montreal-based company.
  • The Course Evaluations team regularly contributes their expertise to CTSI programming, including: the teaching dossier and SoTL series workshops, the Course Design Institute, the Peer-to-Peer Faculty Mentoring for Teaching program, and the annual Teaching and Learning Symposium.
  • Student periods for submitting evaluations are open in most Divisions right now. The Course Evaluation team provides a range of resources to help instructors engage students in the process, including Talk to your students about course evaluations
  • Visit the Course Evaluations site or resources, important dates and vital information (UTORid required)
  • Select divisions provide access to past course evaluation data in Quercus. Go to Quercus and click on Course Evals in the left menu to view
  • The Cascaded Course Evaluation Framework launched as a pilot in 2012 with the Faculty of Arts & Science, Faculty of Nursing, and Faculty of Social Work.
  • As of March 2019, there are 13 divisions using the online system, Blue, and more being implemented every year.
  • Under the academic leadership of the VP-IUE, CTSI produced the Course Evaluation Interpretation Guidelines for Academic Administrators to provide guidance and recommended resources to support the review and analysis of course evaluation data as one source of data in the assessment of teaching effectiveness.
  • Aiming to establish U of T’s position as leaders in course evaluation and assessment of teaching, CTSI founded and hosted the inaugural Course Evaluation Institute in October 2018 with 41 invited participants (faculty, staff and senior administrators) from 21 institutions. Future Course Evaluation Institutes will be held every two years.
  • Ongoing U of T partnerships enhance the Course Evaluations team’s work. This includes the partnership with U of T’s Business Intelligence office that enables a range of stakeholders to query course evaluation data dynamically.