Teaching evaluations in Evalytics

Evaluating teaching using Evalytics

• Evalytics is the application for evaluating teaching at VU Amsterdam.

  Evalytics is available as an application for evaluating teaching. The application closely meets the requirements of the university and its employees with regard to the evaluation of teaching. Evalytics is able to process new forms of digital evaluation and offers greater flexibility for its different users.

  You can access your evaluations in Evalytics by clicking on this link: https://evalytics.vu.nl/login. For detailed instructions, see here.

• Evalytics rollout

  For the standard digital evaluations, we use Evalytics. Evalytics is an intuitive evaluation program where subject coordinators can design their own evaluation to a certain extent. On this page you will find the FAQ and manuals to use Evalytics in the best possible way. In case of questions, please contact the evaluation coordinator of the faculty.

• FAQ: Questions and answers

  Current problems

  • Lecturers have been added to their modules in SAP but are not visible in the evaluations.
    Select the course version of the module in question and add the lecturer via EDIT; then save this. Then select the module evaluation, and the lecturer can then be selected using the EDIT QUESTIONS button. If this doesn’t work, please contact the evaluation coordinator in your faculty.
  • There are no students listed with my evaluation.
    Contact the evaluation coordinator in your faculty.
  • The search function does not work
    There are times when this function does not work. If this happens, try entering the search term a few more times and clicking on search. Sooner or later the search results will appear. The supplier is currently working on this problem to get it fixed.
  • As a course coordinator I am not able to add new (not yet existing) questions to the evaluation.
    New questions can only be added by using the Edit questions button. in Evalytics. Open the evalutation, go to actions and choose Edit questions As soos as you have saved the concept it is not possible to add new questions, you cannot go back. Via the button Edit you can still add already existing questions. 
  • The evaluation of a course is not finished yet, but I can already see results coming in
    This is correct. We are working on solving this, but at the moment the results are already visible from 5 respondents. However, the evaluation remains open until the end date as planned. These results are not visible to the students.
  • On my dashboard, I do not see the results of all my courses that I have already completed.
    Up to P3 (2021-2022) the grades for teachers were included in the course averages from P4 (2021-2022) onwards this is no longer the case. Only the KPI questions now count towards the average. However, this now also appears to have the consequence that Evalytics no longer shows the completed course without a grade for teacher in the average on the course coordinator dashboard. 
  • I cannot see the results of my course
    Please first make sure you have selected the right academic year (the year in which your course took place).

  Editing evaluations

  • Can I sort the evaluation on the home screen?
    Yes, you can sort the evaluations using the triangles.
  • I see two evaluations for my module.
    Evalytics creates an evaluation for teaching and a separate one for the exam. If they are carried out at the same time, the students get to see it as one single evaluation. It is also possible to hold the teaching evaluation earlier than the one for the exam - during the final lesson, for example.
  • What does VU_ALG_standaardset mean, and the other standard sets?
    This is a list of questions that are automatically set if the relevant mode of instruction is used in the module concerned. This set consists of core questions that are asked throughout the university, and which cannot be deleted, and of questions that can be deleted, by the course coordinator. The standard question sets are also available on this website in both Dutch and English.
  • Can course coordinators also make changes to the evaluation, such as by adding individual questions him/herself?
    Yes, they can; see the guides elsewhere on this website.
  • Can a course coordinator add and delete questions for each type of learning method?
    Yes, the questions can be modified for each evaluation. The standard questions, or core questions, cannot be deleted. Bear in mind that any changes to the questionnaires makes comparing results between different years more complicated. See the manual to find out how to add questions.
  • What happens if a course coordinator does not check the questionnaire?
    The process is designed so that questionnaires are prepared according to the modes of instruction that are used and they are made available to the students on this basis (after the exam). If the course coordinator does not check the evaluation, the default questionnaire is sent.
  • When will the evaluation be sent?
    By default, the evaluation is set to be sent on the day of the exam. The teaching questionnaire and the exam questionnaire are then sent to the students as an evaluation. It is possible to adjust the date, for example to evaluate teaching during the last lecture. See the quick reference card and section 3.3 of the manual how to adjust this. Note that feedback dates are also adjusted if necessary.
  • Teachers (other than the course coordinator) have no access to the evaluation in Evalytics. Can a course coordinator add these teachers to the evaluation?
    Yes, this is possible if this teacher is also added to the course in the source system (SAP). It is therefore advisable to indicate in the request for academic structure which lecturers are involved in the course. This will ensure that the data is entered correctly in SAP and therefore automatically in Evalytics. Besides you can export the questions to Excel. Click Edit and then Excel export.

  Language

  • In what language will the evaluation be sent?
    This depends on the language registered in SAP. An English course in SAP will deliver an English evaluation and vice-versa.

  In class

  • What can I evaluate live in class?
    Standard evaluations are always sent out 'by invitation'. It is possible to take this standard evaluation in class by adjusting the collection period. See the manual for the exact steps. The option live in class is only used for extra evaluations to evaluate specific topics, for instance. More information on this can also be found in the manual.

  Results

  • Can the course coordinator also export the reports?
    Yes. When you go to the page Evaluations, you can select the right course. Under Actions at the right-hand side, you can select Results with the following extensions: PDF, DOC, XLS, CSV, XML. 
  • Is the standard deviation in the results?
    Yes, it is shown as sigma (σ)
  • Will it still be possible to create trend reports?
    Yes, Evalytics also offers this option. The history from the previous system has not been transferred to Evalytics. The trend reports can be created once a module has been evaluated for a second time. The historic data is available in VUdata.
  • Do Programme Committee members have access to Evalytics?
    It is not currently possible for Programme Committee members to access the evaluations of their study programmes via Evalytics. They receive the evaluation reports from the faculty evaluation coordinator.

  Questions by Faculty Evaluation Coordinators

  • Why do we have to use the evaluation calendar?                                                                                                                    
    In the evaluation calendar, adjustments in source systems (e.g. involved teachers, registered students, etc.) are processed automatically. The calendar is also used to check whether the evaluations will be created properly by the faculty evaluation coordinator. Four weeks before the evaluation date the information is used to create the evaluation. The adjustments the course coordinator makes in the evaluation (e.g. adding questions or teachers) will not be overwritten if changes are made in source systems. 
  • The evaluation calendar states that the creation of the evaluation has failed.
    This message appears whenever there are no students linked to the evaluation concerned (there are none who have enrolled). This evaluation will therefore not be created from the evaluation calendar and the evaluation process for this module stops. Please contact the faculty evaluation coordinator.
  • As the faculty evaluation coordinator, I would like to ‘omit’ an evaluation (not have one carried out) for a particular module. How do I do that?
    If the evaluation has not yet been created but is already displayed in the evaluation calendar, then you can use Evalytics to dispose of the evaluation calendar for the course evaluation and the one for the evaluation of the exam for the module in question. However, you must make sure that the ‘Evaluation’ tick at module level in SAP-SLCM is deactivated by the academic structure manager (BAS), otherwise a new evaluation calendar will be created automatically a few days later for this module and the process will then continue regularly!
    If the course evaluation and the evaluation of the exam have already been created, then you can dispose these two evaluations in Evalytics.

  Other

  • Who can students contact if they have any questions about Evalytics?
    Student should contact the Central Student Services Desk.
  • Does Evalytics use the same terminology as VU Amsterdam?
    No, there are differences in some areas:

  Evalytics	VU Amsterdam
  Coordinators of the course	Course coordinator or module coordinator
  Quality managers of the study programme	Programme director
  Quality coordinators of the study programme	Programme coordinator
  Evaluation coordinators of the study programme	Faculty evaluation coordinators (FEC)

• Manuals

  The following manuals and resources are available on evaluations:

  • Course coordinator manual
  • Course Evaluations - Best Practices for Lecturers
  • Effective Evaluations - Recommendations for Programme Directors
  • Evaluations - Recommendations for Programme Committees 

  Additionally, the following Quick Reference Cards are available for course coordinators. 

  • QRC - Logging into Evalytics
  • Evalytics - Quick Start Guide
  • QRC - Course evaluation during the last class
  • Timeline Evalytics

  Information about other types of evaluation can be found on the Evaluations of teaching page.

• Question sets

  • VU-brede vragenset cursusevaluaties Evalytics [Dutch]
  • VU-brede vragenset curriculumevaluatie BSc Evalytics [Dutch]
  • VU-brede vragenset curriculumevaluatie MSc Evalytics [Dutch] 
  • VU-wide question set Course Evaluations Evalytics [English]
  • VU-wide question set curriculum evaluation BSc Evalytics [English]
  • VU-wide question set curriculum evaluation MSc Evalytics [English]

• Contact

  Questions?

  Teachers and coursecoordinators can contact their Faculty Evaluation Coordinator with technical and support questions.

  For other evaluation questions, please contact team OTIR: onderwijsevaluaties.dsz@vu.nl