Your students are more inclined to complete course evaluations if they know that the results will be available to them. In addition to providing you with valuable feedback, course evaluation results can be helpful for students when they are deciding which courses to take.
View deadlines and instructions to register a permission decision in MERCURY.
Numerical results of course evaluations, with the exception of Teaching Assistant results, are accessible by McGill students and academic staff for courses when the following two conditions are met:
- An instructor has not objected to access; and
- An adequate response rate has been received, defined as follows:
Class Size Response Rate (%) 5 - 11 minimum 5 responses 12 - 30 at least 40% 31 - 100 at least 35% 101 - 200 at least 30% 201 or more at least 25%
Numerical results from the Winter 2020 term will not be disseminated to the public even if permission was granted by the instructor and the response threshold is met.
Written comments are always treated as confidential and are never disseminated. (See policy).
For courses with multiple instructors, all instructors assigned to the course must not object to access for course evaluation results to be disseminated to students.
Deadlines and instructions to register a permission decision
As of the Fall 2017 term, instructors can make permission decisions on a term-by-term basis rather than by academic year. A benefit of this change is that it allows students to view Fall term results when registering for courses for the upcoming academic year.
| WINTER 2024 | SUMMER 2024 | FALL 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instructors can register decisions between: | March 1 - May 31, 2024 | June 1 - September 30, 2024 | November 1 - February 29, 2024 |
| Course evaluation results become available on: | June 1, 2024 | October 1, 2024 | March 2, 2024 |
If you do not register a decision by the deadline, the numerical portion of all your course evaluation results from the current term will be disseminated to students provided that an adequate response rate has been received.
Permission decisions cannot be changed for previous terms once a deadline has passed.
- Log in to Minerva.
- Select the Faculty Menu.
- Select the Mercury Online Course Evaluation Menu.
- Select the link to Grant/Deny Permission to Disseminate Course Evaluation Results.
- Minerva will inform you if you have made a permission decision in the past. If you have not made a decision or if you wish to change your previous decision, select the Click here to continue button.
- Select the desired option and click Submit:
- Grant permission: The numerical portion of all your course evaluation results will be disseminated to students. This decision carries over to future terms. You may change your decision in the next term according to the deadlines.
- Course-by-course option: The numerical portion of all of your course evaluation results will be disseminated to students except for any courses you choose to exclude. Exclusions do not carry over to future terms.
- Deny permission: The numerical portion of all your course evaluation results will not be disseminated to students. This decision carries over to future terms. You may change your decision in the next term according to the deadlines.
- If you register a decision, you can change it within seven days, or by the deadline, whichever is earlier. You may reconsider your decision in the following term.
As at December 2019:
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62% of instructors have granted permission for their results to be made available.
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31% have denied permission.
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7% have accessed the form but did not indicate a preference.
If I do not need to fill out the permission form to have my results available to students, why should I take the time to fill it out?
By actively providing consent to make your course evaluation results available to students, you let the University know that you are aware of the Course Evaluations Policy. This allows us to assess the effectiveness of our communications strategies. It also improves our ability to report on the number of instructors who have granted and denied permission.
Can I share my course evaluation results publicly?
Course evaluation results, both numerical ratings and comments, belong to the course instructor. Therefore, you can share your results as you please, such as on your website, in publications, or at conferences. If your course is co-taught, students’ feedback about the course belongs to all course instructors teaching that course. As a professional courtesy, you should check with your co-instructor(s) before sharing results from co-taught courses.
