Policies for Student Course Surveys (SCS)
Eligibility for SCSs
All active academic credit courses with positive student enrollment, except independent studies, master’s thesis and dissertation credits, are eligible for SCSs. Student course surveys are based on the shared experience students have in a course. There is no minimum enrollment for ordering SCSs, but no SCSs will be administered for courses with zero enrollment. Additionally, SCS report release is contingent on at least 3 student responses.
With department and/or college approval, student course surveys may be conducted independently by departments. This option requires departments to create their own survey instrument; store, analyze, maintain the collected data; and report evaluation results. Data collected outside the SCS Online Tool Suite cannot be integrated into the TCE/SCS or Analytics systems.
SCS Open Period
The SCS open period for regular semester classes begins 28 days before the end of the semester; for other sessions, the SCS evaluation period is adjusted according to the duration of the course. The open period ends on the final day of classes before final exams. During the SCS open period, instructors and department staff can view response rates and preview the SCS survey items in the SCS Online Tool Suite.
Reopening SCS evaluations after the open period has ended
The SCS system automatically begins processing results as soon as the SCS open period ends, therefore we cannot reopen a SCS once the open period ends.
Requirement for SCS Report Results
A minimum of 3 student responses are required for a SCS report to be created and released.
SCS Reports and SCS Comment Reports are released following grade posting. Grades posted must be posted by Friday morning for report release by Analytics and the SCS Online Tool Suite for the following Monday.
Additionally, for reports to be generated, grades must be posted within 45 days following the last day of classes.
Report Release
Reports cannot be accessed prior to release in the Analytics system. Reports are not generated for courses that do not meet the minimum 3 student responses, contain error in course or instructor information, or courses that did not have SCS orders prior to the open survey period.
Editing or modifying open-ended comments
We cannot edit, or remove, student responses from a SCS report. Further, we cannot combine results for courses once reports have been released.
The student responses to open-ended questions are not edited or altered in any way.
List of SCS participants
Once the SCS open period has closed, instructors can get a list of students who have participated in the SCS survey, if it meets the minimum of 10 student responses. This list is available until the SCS reports are released through Analytics.
Access to SCS Reports
Instructors have access to their own SCS and TCE reports. Department SCS contacts and department heads have access to SCSs and TCEs for courses and faculty within their department.
College level access can be granted to deans and their administrative staff.
Analytics Database
Analytics contains all historical TCE and current SCS reports for active faculty members and instructors that are current employees. Students teaching for credit must have DCC paperwork completed for reports to be released in Analytics, or they can retrieve their reports from the SCS Online Tool Suite for courses taught from Spring 2016 to present.
Access to reports in Analytics must be provisioned using the UAccess Provisioning tool, and the 4 digit-department code(s) needed must be identified for processing. It is generally limited to department heads/directors and their administrative staff. Access for other roles is at the discretion of the department head/director, or college-level staff. It is up to departments to ensure the proper employees have access.
Student Access to SCSs
All students officially enrolled in the course prior to the SCS open period in the UAccess Student, degree seeking or non-degree seeking, can provide feedback through the SCS for the course. We cannot add students auditing the course to the class roster.
Withdrawn Students
Students who withdraw before the SCS open period begins do not have access to complete a SCS, however, students who withdraw after the SCS open period begins are eligible to complete a SCS for the course.
Ordering SCSs
SCSs must be ordered prior to the open period for all active courses in the schedule of classes. Before placing orders, course information should be verified by the department. Any changes in course information must be made in the UAccess Student system prior to the SCS open period. The SCS Online System will update automatically in 2 days but can manually be updated by department contacts the following day.
Ordering is completed by the department SCS contact (chosen by the department) through the SCS Online Tool Suite. Access is given as requested by the department head, or other authorized department staff.
Weekly email notifications are sent to listed SCS contacts for each department 60 days prior to the beginning of the SCS open period.
Once the open period begins, the OIA staff must be contacted as soon as possible for any changes required. The changes may not be available at that time.
Changes to SCSs orders
All changes to SCS orders (closing/ending SCSs, change in template) must be approved by the department. Instructors must contact their department SCS contact for any changes to the SCS evaluation.