Introduction

The IDEA Team manages course evaluations delivered via SmartEvals.com. This platform provides informed and timely feedback to faculty regarding course instruction. Instructors are unable to see who responded to their course evaluations as they are anonymous. Evaluations help the School of Social Work improve the educational-experience of all students. 

Receiving Course Evaluations via Email

Close to the conclusion of the semester, all instructors receive an email and can log into the system using the link at the bottom of the email. 

Instructors will have access to previous evaluation data for all semesters they have taught. Instructors will also receive a PDF formatted report with survey results for their courses once they are closed. Additional data or views can be found once you can log into the SmartEvals Course Eval system using your campus UMID/password/Duo.

Logging In

1. Either click the link in the email provided to login or:

2. Log in to SmartEvals by visiting the login page: https://sswumaryland.smartevals.com/

MyEvalCenter

Once you are logged in as an instructor to SmartEvals, your default view will be the MyEvalCenter.

MyEvalCenter is divided into sections depending on course status: surveys that are open, awaiting release, ready for viewing, and by year for historical data. SmartEvals provides an extensive set of tools to help faculty view and analyze the results of their surveys.  

The predominant view will be the current Overall Response Rate - the percent of students who have completed your course evaluations. It will also display open surveys, the timing of the surveys' opening/closing, the specific number of respondents, your response percentage rate in real-time, a way to generate QR codes, and a preview of the evaluation. 

Obtaining QR Codes

Click Get QR Codes to generate a printable sheet you can bring into the physical classroom or email to students. Students can use the camera on their smartphone to read the QR code and go directly to the course eval on their mobile device, so that they can fill in the course evaluation in your classroom on their personal device.

Instructor Tabs

The menu at the top of myEvalCenter includes:

Eval Center: the main default view.

Handouts: to generate the QR code print out sheet

Edit: Use the Email Students feature to contact non-responding students and increase your overall response rates.

Reports: a list of reports available to the instructor for reviewing and evaluating responses once the evaluation period is complete

Help: a comprehensive help system covering the SmartEval system

Exit:  the ability to exit and log out of the system

Frequently Asked Questions About Student Evaluations

1. When do course evaluations open and close?

Faculty often ask about the timing of evaluations. The IDEA Team clarifies that evaluation periods are set by Academic Affairs and typically span several weeks near the end of the semester. For example, Fall 2023 evaluations ran from December 1–21, with grades due on December 22.

2. How are students notified about evaluations?

Students receive automated emails with links to complete evaluations. These reminders are sent every 3–4 days during the evaluation window, up to five times if the survey remains incomplete.

3. How can I increase student response rates?

The IDEA Team recommends:

• Announcing the evaluation period in class.

• Explaining how past feedback has shaped course improvements.

• Reassuring students that responses are anonymous and only viewed after grades are submitted.

• Using QR codes in class or emailing them to students for easy mobile access 

To learn more about increasing retention rates, please visit https://info.smartevals.com/tips/ to watch videos and step-by-step guides as well as to download a Best Tips document in PDF form: https://info.smartevals.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/BestTipsRRads-1.pdf

4. Where can I see my course evaluation results?

Faculty can log into SmartEvals using UMID credentials. Reports include:

• Custom Reports: Create dashboards with drill-down metrics.

• Percentile Rank: Compare your scores to other instructors at the school