Student Evaluation Questionnaires

The Student Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ)

The SEQ is a set of questions about each of a student's courses and course instructors. It consists of five questions about the course and two questions about the instructor(s) of the course. Some of the questions require that you write out your answers; two of them ask for a scaled rating.

The SEQ is used both to help faculty develop their teaching and to evaluate faculty during their reappointment, tenure, promotion, and merit reviews.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who sees my answers to the SEQs?

The answers to all SEQ questions (including written responses) will be seen by the faculty member being evaluated, the faculty member's departmental Reappointments and Promotions (R&P) Committee, and the Committee on Faculty Appointments (CFA). SEQ responses are not shared with faculty members until after grades for the course have been submitted.

Are my answers to the SEQ anonymous?

Although the online SEQ system provides you with the list of courses for which you are registered, the SEQ answers you enter will have no identifying information associated with them. Neither faculty members nor the R&P Committee or CFA will know who has written which comments.

How will my instructors use my answers to the SEQ?

Faculty members use SEQ responses to help them improve their courses and their teaching. They will not know who has written which comments. They will not see SEQ responses until after they have submitted grades for the course.

How will the CFA and the R&P committee use the SEQ?

The Committee on Faculty Appointments (CFA) and the departmental Reappointments and Promotions (R&P) Committee use the SEQ to help evaluate faculty during their reappointment, tenure, promotion, and merit reviews. Quality of teaching is one of the important criteria used to evaluate faculty, and the SEQ is one of the means by which an assessment of the quality of an individual's teaching is made.

Do the SEQ reports faculty receive have the answers from each student grouped together?

Yes, the answers to all the questions answered by a single student are grouped together in the SEQ reports the faculty (and the CFA and R&P committee) receive, i.e. Student A's answers are presented, then Student B's, Student C's, etc.

Do I have to complete the SEQ? How many do I have to do?

Yes, you are required to complete an SEQ for each instructor in every course in which you are enrolled (except 250, 350, 360, and 370). You must complete separate evaluations for the lecture and lab components of courses with both lectures and labs. All courses and instructors must be evaluated by the end of the online SEQ period.

Do I complete an SEQ for my independent study courses?

No. You will not be asked to complete an SEQ for 250 or 350 (Research or Individual Study), 360 (Senior Thesis Research), or 370 (Senior Thesis) courses.

Do I complete an SEQ for courses I take at MIT or other institutions?

No. The SEQ system is used to evaluate only Wellesley College courses/instructors. You will not be asked to complete an SEQ for courses you take at other institutions, e.g. MIT, Babson, Brandeis, Olin, Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

What is the penalty for not completing all my SEQs?

Students who have not completed all their SEQs will not be able to access their grades online. In order to obtain grades for the semester, students who did not complete all their SEQs will have to order a transcript online via MyWellesley >> Adminisitrivia >> Especially For Students >> Academic Transcripts and pay the transcript fee. Electronic transcripts have a fee of $8.00 and paper transcripts will be $10.00 per copy. Due to the heavy volume of transcript requests the Registrar's Office receives, once student grades are available online, there is a 3-5 day turn-around time to provide the requested transcripts.

Is there any way to avoid losing online access to grades if I haven't completed all my SEQs by the end of the online SEQ period?

No. Students must complete all evaluations during the time the online SEQ system is available. It is each individual's responsibility to evaluate all her courses during this approximately week-long period.

Can I provide feedback about a faculty member another way?

Yes. IN ADDITION TO completing the SEQ, you are also encouraged to submit letters about your courses and/or instructors to the Dean of the College, chair of the CFA. According to college policy, such letters are shared with the faculty member and his/her department, so any letter should indicate whether (1) the letter should be shared, as written, with your name left on, or (2) the letter should be shared with your name and identifying phrases removed. Letters may be submitted either in hard copy with a signature or electronically as an email or email attachment.

How do I access the online SEQ system?

The SEQ system is part of the Banner Self Service system students use for course registration, to view their grades, etc. SEQs can be accessed via MyWellesley using your domain username and password. After logging in, click on the Students tab, then click on Banner Self Service, then Student Services, then Enter SEQs to start the evaluation process.

When is the online SEQ available?

Each semester, the online SEQ is available starting the day after classes end through the day after exams end. Information about the exact dates is posted on the student tab in the MyWellesley portal. All courses and instructors must be evaluated by 11:00 pm of the last day of the SEQ period.

Is the online SEQ available 24 hours a day? Is it ever down for maintenance?

The Banner Self Service system (which includes SEQs) may be unavailable nightly between 11:30PM and 1:30AM and also Friday mornings from 6:00AM-9:00AM for system maintenance. If you are working close to the shutdown time, you can save what you've written so far as described in the question below, Can I save a partially completed SEQ to finish later?

How do I log into the online SEQ system?

Log in to MyWellesley using your domain username and password. - Click on the Students tab - Click on Banner Self-Service - Select Student Services - Click Enter SEQs to start the evaluation process.

If you have questions about your domain username and password, call the Computing Help Desk at X3333.

Can I complete the online SEQ from off campus?

Yes, the online SEQ system is available from off-campus. You may find that connections are slower when you log on from off campus.

How can I get help logging on to the online SEQ?

If you have trouble logging on, you can call the Computing Help Desk at X3333, or stop by in person on the second floor of Clapp Library, Monday through Friday, 8:30AM-4:30PM; or entering a WebHelpDesk ticket in MyWellesley.

What can I expect to see when I enter the SEQs?

After you log in, you will see a list of courses for which you are registered and whether or not an SEQ is required. When you select a course, you will be asked to answer questions about the course and the instructor (or each of the instructors, for courses with more than one instructor). There will be five questions about the course and two questions about the instructor(s) of the course. Some of the questions require you to write out your answers; two of them ask for a scaled rating.

What if the courses listed are not the right courses or sections or instructors?

If the courses listed are not the courses you are taking, contact the Registrar's Office at registrar@wellesley.edu to resolve any registration errors.
PLEASE DO NOT COMPLETE THE SEQ FOR A COURSE/SECTION IN WHICH YOU ARE NOT ENROLLED.

Can I prepare my answers before I log on to the online SEQ?

Yes, and we recommend that you do so. You may type your answers directly in the boxes of the online SEQ (see next question), or you may prepare your answers using another application (such as Word) and copy and paste the text into the boxes. Note that special characters or formatting (such as accent marks or bold/italics) will not paste correctly.

Do I have to prepare my answers before I log on to the online SEQ?

No, although we recommend that you do so. You may type your answers directly in the boxes of the online SEQ if you want. You will be able to review what you have written and edit your answers as much as you want before submitting your SEQ.

Will I complete two different SEQs for a course with two different instructors?

No. If a course is taught by more than one instructor, you must answer the questions about each of the course instructors at the same time you answer the questions about the course. On the SEQ form, you will be asked the five questions about the course (which you'll answer only once), then the two questions about one instructor, followed by the same two questions about the second instructor, and so on, until you've answered the same two questions about each instructor in the course.

What if I change my mind about what I've written on an SEQ?

You may edit your responses to the SEQ questions as much as you want BEFORE you click to Submit SEQ. Do not click Submit SEQ until you are sure you are completely done with your evaluation. Once you Submit SEQ, your answers will be recorded and you will not be able to evaluate the same course/instructor(s) again. Since the answers are stored with no identifying information, there is no way to retract your responses once you've completed their submission. At any time, you may decide to exit from the SEQ online form without recording your responses by clicking Quit without submitting SEQ. If you do this, nothing you have written will be recorded and you will be able to evaluate the course at a later time.

Can I save a partially completed SEQ to finish later?

No. If you must interrupt an SEQ session and you wish to save what you've written so far, follow these steps. (1) Before choosing to end the SEQ session, open a new file in a word processor application (like Word, WordPad, SimpleText, BBEdit, etc). (2) Copy the SEQ answer you want to save from each text box in the browser window and paste the text into the word processor file. (3) Save the file on your hard drive (if working from your own computer) or to a portable disk (if working from a public cluster computer). You now have a saved copy of the answers you wrote before you decided to Quit without submitting SEQ. To retrieve your saved answers: (1) Log into the online SEQ system and choose to evaluate the course you did not complete earlier. (2) Open the word processor file that contains the text you wrote earlier. (3) Copy and paste each answer from the saved file into the appropriate text box in the browser window. You can, of course, change the answers as much as you want before clicking to Submit SEQ.

What if my computer crashes before I complete and submit an SEQ?

Unfortunately, any SEQ answers you've written but not submitted will be lost. You should log on and try again.

Can I evaluate the same course/instructor(s) twice?

No, once your answers to the questions about a course/instructor(s) have been recorded, the SEQ system will not allow you to evaluate the same course/instructor(s) again.

What happens if my MyWellesley session times out?

For security purposes, the MyWellesley system will automatically log you out if your session does not have any activity (clicking from screen to screen or typing in a screen) for 30 minutes. If this happens, any SEQ answers you've written but not submitted will be lost. If your responses are still on the screen, you may be able to save them by following the steps described in Can I save a partially completed SEQ to finish later?. Then you should log on and try again.

When I clicked on Submit SEQ, I got an error message that said "SEQ input is not available at this time" What does this mean?

The SEQ system will not allow you to submit an SEQ once the deadline for SEQ entry has passed, even if you happen to be typing in the SEQ form when the deadline is reached. If this happens, any answers you've written but not submitted will be lost.

If you wish to provide feedback about the course and/or instructor you were not able to submit, you may send a letter to the Dean of the College, chair of the CFA. According to college policy, such letters are shared with the faculty member and his/her department, so any letter should indicate whether (1) the letter should be shared, as written, with your name left on, or (2) the letter should be shared with your name and identifying phrases removed. Letters must be submitted in writing with a signature (not via e-mail).

How do I log out of MyWellesley when I'm done with my SEQs?

When you are done working on your SEQs, you should click Logout (upper right corner of the screen) to log out of MyWellesley and close your browser for security.

Who can help me if I have problems with the online SEQ system?

If you are having computer or network or login problems, you can call the Computing Help Desk at X3333, or stop by in person on the second floor of Clapp Library, Monday through Friday, 8:30AM-5:30PM; or submit a WebHelpdesk ticket through the Home tab of MyWellesley.

If you have trouble logging in to MyWellesley, be sure you're using the correct domain username and password.

How can I provide general feedback about the SEQ process?

You may send comments and suggestions to Ruth Frommer, Assistant Dean of the College for Faculty Appointments.