Registrar

EvaluationKIT (Ekit)

Emory Law began using the new course evaluation platform (EvaluationKit or Ekit) in the Fall 2020 semester. EvaluationKit is a cloud-based solution for administering and reporting on course evaluations which integrates with Canvas. Students will be notified when course evaluations are available in Canvas. During the evaluation period, faculty cannot see individual responses, but can monitor overall response rates, and send reminders to their classes to complete their course evaluations.

We strongly encourage all students to complete an evaluation for each course in which they are enrolled. Course evaluations are vital to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of courses and instruction. Completing your evaluations allows faculty and school leadership to learn about your experience in the classroom. This information helps guide decisions to improve the educational experience. Please note that the survey results are not shared with faculty until ALL grades have been posted, and no personal data is shared at any point.

For the Fall 2023 semester, each instructor’s course evaluation will open online through EvaluationKIT directly in Canvas starting Monday, November 6, at 8 a.m. Evaluations must be completed by 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, November 22.

For more information, contact: law-courseeval@emory.edu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Student FAQ and Information

Why should I complete course evaluations?

Your feedback is vital to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of courses and programs and contributes to the educational mission of our school.

How are the results of course evaluations used?

Faculty are encouraged to use the results in evaluating their own teaching, planning future courses, and documenting teaching accomplishments for promotion and tenure. Administrators use this information to evaluate overall instructional quality and inform curricular decisions.

If I have to log in to Canvas are my answers truly anonymous?

A login is required so that the software can determine the courses you need to evaluate. Your survey responses are stored without any of your identifying information.

How are my responses kept confidential and anonymous?

Preserving students’ anonymity when they evaluate our courses and instructors is of critical importance, both as an ethical principal and to encourage candid feedback. Two aspects of EvaluationKIT help ensure that student anonymity and confidentiality are preserved.

First, the evaluation itself appears within Canvas, a platform that we’ve come to see as very open and designed to facilitate shared public discourse. However, Canvas and EvaluationKIT are, despite appearances, two separate systems.

Canvas appears visually as the “frame” for EvaluationKIT in the same way an online storefront can “frame” a PayPal transaction window. Outside of a few tightly controlled channels of information, the two are kept segregated. In particular, no evaluation response data is ever stored within any portion of Canvas.

Secondly, your responses are stored only with a system-generated "respondent ID" within EvaluationKIT. Technically, the system must "know" who you are to ensure you're actually enrolled in a course and should be submitting an evaluation of it. Student names or other Emory-specific identifiers like netIDs or email addresses are never stored with responses under the system-generated "respondent ID.”

Only a few University data stewards have the “master keys” to connect a respondent ID to an Emory ID. No instructors, TAs, or even deans are allowed that level of access. Only de-identified and aggregated results are given to instructors after all grades have been submitted.

Just as you should expect a physician or therapist to protect the privacy of your health records, a central tenet of the role of University data stewards is to protect the anonymity and confidentiality of all student evaluations. Students should feel free to contact the University EvaluationKIT team at any time with questions about the evaluation process or concerns about their anonymity at law-courseeval@emory.edu.

How will I know my course evaluation is available?

Online course evaluations for Fall 2022 will launch starting Monday, November 7, at 8 a.m. Evaluations must be completed by 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, November 23. Students will be notified via email when course evaluations are available in Canvas.

Will completing the course evaluation negatively impact my grade?

No. Your responses are anonymous and will not affect your grade. Course evaluation feedback is not distributed to instructors until after all grades have been submitted. To ensure your results remain anonymous, please do not include any personally identifying information in any open-ended comments.
The instructor can monitor the percentage of students who have completed the course evaluations and may send follow-up prompts to the class to get more responses.

When will my instructor receive my responses?

The instructor listed for your course will receive all student responses about two weeks after all grades have been submitted. Your instructor will not know that any individual student specifically completed the course evaluation unless there is 100% participation. If 100% participation is reached, the answers remain anonymous, but the instructor would know everyone participated.

What if I can’t see the course evaluation when I follow the instructions above to view evaluations from my Canvas account settings?

Please email law-courseeval@emory.edu with the class number and section and we will work with the instructor to fix the course setting to allow student access the evaluation via Canvas. We will not share your name when contacting the instructor.

Do I need to complete a course evaluation from a specific device?

Course evaluations may be completed on a desktop or laptop computer or mobile device, such as a phone. The screen size of some mobile devices may cause formatting issues. If this occurs, please complete on a computer at your earliest convenience. Students using Mac laptops may experience challenges related to cookies. If you are a Mac user and have this challenge, we encourage you to use Chrome or Firefox browsers to complete the course evaluation.

The course evaluation isn’t showing up when I am clicking on it from my Mac.

Students using Mac laptops may experience challenges related to cookies. If you are a Mac user and have this challenge, we encourage you to use Chrome or Firefox browsers to complete the course evaluation.

If I didn’t complete my evaluation but saved it, how do I navigate back to complete it?

Every time you click on the Canvas course page after saving the evaluation, you will be given the opportunity to complete the evaluation.

If a course is taught by two instructors, will I be able to evaluate each?

Yes. For classes with more than one instructor, some questions will ask you to rate individual instructors. If you have more than one instructor for a class, you may see questions that appear to be repeated, but the name of the instructor you’re rating will appear above the questions that apply to a specific instructor. Please read each question carefully to ensure you are answering instructor-specific questions appropriately.

Can I pause or stop the course evaluation once I start?

Once you have started an evaluation, you will be able to either submit your answers on completion or, in most instances, save your progress to complete at a later time. There is one exception to this process, however—if the evaluation you’re working on closes within a day of the time you’re working on it, you will only be able to submit your responses or exit without saving.

What if I do not want to complete the course evaluation or answer a specific question in the course evaluation?

Students are strongly encouraged to take this opportunity to provide feedback. ALL questions are required to complete and submit the evaluation but each question allows an alternative answer such as N/A you may use if you do not feel comfortable answering the question.

Can I change my responses after I submit the course evaluation?

No. Once your course evaluation is submitted, you cannot access or change it. They must be completed during the evaluation period, 8 a.m. on 11/7 and close at 11:59 p.m. on 11/23.

How do I know my course evaluation was submitted?

You will receive immediate confirmation from EvaluationKIT within Canvas that you have submitted your evaluation.

Who can I contact if I have a question?

You may contact law-courseeval@emory.edu with any questions.

Faculty FAQ and Information

Are evaluations anonymous if students are completing them through Canvas?

Yes, there are no links between any identifiable student information in the system and responses. Additionally, students have been instructed not to include any personally identifying information in evaluation comments.

Are answers required to all questions?

Students must select or enter N/A for all questions, including open-ended comments. They are not required to provide a rating or substantive comment but in order to submit the course evaluation they do need to mark N/A on scaled questions and N/A or other like notation for open ended questions.

How can I see the course evaluation participation rate when evaluations are open?

You can view the student participation in course evaluations using the “Response Rate Tracker” in Canvas. You can access the Tracker from the left hand navigation within your course once evaluations have opened via the “Instructor Course Evaluations” link.

I don’t see “Instructor Course Evaluations” as a left hand navigation. How do I get it to appear?

If you are unable to see Instructor Course Evaluations as a left hand navigation, it is because the field was moved to “hide from students.” See picture below. To see the course evaluation link, you will need to drag “Instructor Course Evaluations” to the section above.

My students are telling me they are unable to see the course evaluation link from Canvas - What can I do?

If your students are unable to navigate to your course evaluation link from their Canvas settings, it is most likely because the “Student Course Evaluations” field in your left hand navigation was moved to items to hide from students. You can drag “Student Course Evaluations” to the top grouping and it should appear to students.

When will I be able to see the results of my course evaluation?

Instructors will have access to their final course evaluations about 2 weeks after the final grading deadline for the semester. 

Where can I access my course evaluation after the final grading deadline?

You can access your course evaluations from Canvas. For instructions, please review this document.