Tools
Student Assessment of Instruction
At the end of each course, students are given the opportunity to provide feedback about their course and their instructor(s). This feedback is captured using eXplorance Blue and then made available in the approximately 10 business days after final grades have posted for any given semester.
Student response data was updated 01/22/2024 to include additional responses for the Spring 2023, Summer 2023, and Fall 2023.
The Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) here at USF offers many resources to faculty members who would like to maximize the may aspects of teaching evaluation. Please visit their site HERE for more information.
Spring 2025 Course evaluation dates:
Full term courses will be evaluated: 04/17/2025 - 05/01/2025 11:59pm
Courses on the alternate calendar are evaluated at the end of their course (typically the last 3-7 days of the course),
based on the dates in Oasis/Banner.
Frequently Asked Questions for Students:
I never received my evaluation invitation for one of my classes. Why and how can I get one?
Generally, there are 5 possibilities for this to occur:
1) Invitation sent to spam folder: Your email invitation may have been sent to your
junk email folder. Check there first to make sure it was not treated as spam.
2) Email failed to send: If there was an issue with your email address or the mail
server, you can always log into Explorance Blue directly at and find all of your available evaluations by clicking on the dashboard link at the
menu on left.
3) Dropped course: If you dropped the course, you will not be able to evaluate the
course.
4) Too few students: If you are in a section of the class that has less than 3 students,
you will not be included in the evaluations to protect your anonymity. In this case,
you may submit your feedback to your department directly.
5) Your course is not one that will receive an evaluation. Some types of courses never
receive an evaluation due to their individualized nature. Please see the list of included
and excluded course types.
Included course types:
Class Lecture "C"
Discussion "D"
Internship "I"
Laboratory "L"
Other "O"
Individual Performance "P"
Directed Individual Study "Z"
Excluded course types:
Graduate Dissertation "G"
Medical Clinical Professional "M"
Supervised Research "R"
Supervised Teaching "S"
Graduate Thesis "T"
I forgot to submit my evaluation during the evaluation period and now when I log into the system, it won’t allow me to submit my review. Can you reopen my evaluation so I can submit it?
Unfortunately, no. Once the evaluation period ends, we cannot reopen any evaluations. In this case, you may submit your feedback to your department directly.
I submitted my review to the wrong class and I can’t go back in to correct it. Can you reopen my evaluation so I can change my responses?
You may submit a request for reopening your evaluation here. Depending on the time left in the evaluation period and our backlog, it may not be possible to reopen before the evaluation period ends.
The instructor listed in my course evaluation is wrong. How can this be corrected?
Please let us know here and we will investigate and, if necessary, remove the erroneous evaluations. Since we cannot add additional evaluations manually, you may submit your feedback to your department directly.
One of my classes is not showing up in Canvas or in the Explorance Blue system. Why?
If the course that is missing is an alternate calendar course that ends later in the term, you will not receive that evaluation until that course’s evaluation period begins, generally within the last week of class. The other possibility, is that the course has less than 3 students enrolled. If you are in a section of a class that has less than 3 students, you will not be included in the evaluations to protect your anonymity. In this case, you may submit your feedback to your department directly.
If the frequently asked questions you read do not answer your question, please contact oie@usf.edu to address additional questions.
Frequently Asked Questions for Instructors:
I never received an email notification about my course. Why?
There are several reasons why this might happen. If a course section has less than 3 students, the course will not be evaluated using Explorance Blue to protect student’s anonymity. If this is not the case, first, check your spam folder in your email mailbox to see if it was marked as spam. Second, if you have multiple USF email accounts, check the other accounts to see if the mail message was sent there.
My course is an alternate calendar course. Will it be evaluated at the end of the course or the end of the term?
All evaluations occur at the end of the course, not necessarily the end of the term. Evaluations close at the end of day of the last day of class, before any final exams.
When will the results of the evaluations be available?
Generally, it takes about 10 business days after final grades have posted for evaluation results to be published. Alternate calendar courses may take longer depending on when the last class ends.
Where can I view my course’s evaluation results?
Evaluation results can be viewed in the .
One of my classes is not showing any results in FAIR Evaluations Mart. Why?
While not common, a small number of course evaluations will not have any respondents. Also, if you as an instructor were not properly assigned to the course, there will not be any evaluations for the course.
Many of my students have told me that they did not get an evaluation for my course. What is the problem, and how can we fix it?
Generally, there are two reasons this can occur. First, if you as an instructor are not properly assigned to the course, there can be no evaluation. Second, for anonymity, course evaluations are only available for courses that have 3 or more students. See Student Questions - for more possibilities.
Will students who drop my course be able to evaluate the course?
Generally, no. Students who drop a class will not be included in the course evaluation as long as they are dropped from the class before the close of the evaluation period. If a student has not yet been dropped from a class when the evaluations begin, they may be able to submit an evaluation. However, it will not be included in the responses if they are dropped before the end of the evaluation period.