Frequently Asked Questions

The Online Course Questionnaire (OCQ) consists of at least four core quantitative questions intended to help instructors improve their courses as well as five core "student-access" questions which are intended both to help instructors improve their courses and to provide information about student satisfaction and experience with the course and two qualitative (open-ended) questions. Student-access items will be made available to students when the class size is five or more. In addition, data for any instructor are released only beginning with the third semester of instruction at IUB. 

 Online Course Questionnaire (OCQ) responses give students a forum for telling their instructors and their school’s administrators what is working in their courses and what is not working. By completing the OCQ for each of the courses you take, you are helping improve those courses and the overall IU Bloomington student experience. Non-identifiable OCQ data may also be made available to researchers upon request. Students will have access to aggregate “student-access” data through the OCQ Student Dashboard to assist them in planning their semester. 

The Online Course Questionnaire consists of four core quantitative questions intended to help instructors improve their courses as well as five core "student-access" questions which are intended both to help instructors improve their courses and to provide information about student satisfaction and experience with the course and two qualitative (open-ended) questions. 

• Currently, the four campus-wide questions are:
  • How clearly were course learning goals and objectives communicated to you? 
  • How effectively was class time used to help you learn? 
  • How effectively did out-of-class work (assignments, readings, practice, etc.) help you learn? 
  • How available was the instructor to provide help when needed (in person, by email, office hours, etc.)? 

Responses are confidential and your name will not be linked to the results that are given to your instructor. When the responses are delivered to instructors, no identifying data are included or shared with faculty. Comments to the open-ended questions are shared as written. 

There are several ways to access your Online Course Questionnaire.  

• Navigate to https://coursequestionnaire.iu.edu/ 

• Follow the link provided in the invitation or reminder emails from ceq@iu.edu

• Access the Online Course Questionnaire via Canvas. There is a tool on the left-hand side of each course page that will take you directly to your questionnaires 

• Access the Online Course Questionnaire via your iGPS notification app 

If the instructor you are searching for does not have publicly accessible Online Course Questionnaire student-access information, it is for one of three reasons: 

• Five or more students have not enrolled in the course 

• The instructor has not taught at least two semesters at IU Bloomington 

• The instructor has not participated in the Online Course Questionnaire. Full participation is expected starting in the Fall semester of 2015. 

The OCQ serves the same purpose as the paper end-of-course surveys traditionally used to at IU Bloomington. There are two major differences between the OCQ and the paper end-of-course surveys: First, there is a common set of questions that will be included on all OCQs. Then, a subset of these core questions—known as "student-access" questions—will allow aggregated response data to be made available to students. Previously, there were no common questions across all courses nor were results shared with students. 

Sometimes your web browser’s cache will hold another user’s CAS login credentials, which causes the evaluation system to show various error messages. If you see an error message, first clear your cache by logging out of CAS. 

Then try logging back into your Online Course Questionnaire Dashboard. You should be asked to provide your CAS login credentials. 

If this does not solve your issue, please contact the OCQ Team at ceq@iu.edu with a description of what happens when you try logging in (screenshots are helpful!). 

First, contact your instructor to make sure a Online Course Questionnaire is scheduled for the course. There are some courses that are exempt from doing end-of-semester questionnaires (example: independent study courses). If the course was accidently omitted, your instructor can contact the team. 

If your instructor says the course is scheduled for an Online Course Questionnaire, make sure that you are officially enrolled in the course. Only active students who are officially enrolled in the course may complete an Online Course Questionnaire. 

Participation is not required, but it is strongly encouraged. Your answers for the student access questions are shared with the IUB community through the OCQ Student Dashboard. By providing responses to the student access questions for each of your classes, you are helping to make the OCQ Student Dashboard a more robust and informative resource. Faculty and department administrators also highly value the feedback you provide through your responses. This feedback helps faculty make improvements to their courses that improve the experience of future students enrolled in their courses. 

Once you verify that you are officially enrolled and you do not have access to your OCQ, contact the OCQ team. Please include the course and section number in which you are enrolled, and we can restore your access. 

OCQ Student Dashboard

A student-access question is one for which its responses are specifically designated to be shared with students. The five student-access questions results are only available to current students, faculty, and staff of IU Bloomington through CAS authentication and will be made available through the Online Course Questionnaire (OCQ) Student Dashboard.

OCQ Student Dashboard

You may notice that several courses do not have available Student-access data—this occurs for various reasons: 

• Five or more students have not enrolled in the course 

• The instructor has not taught at least two semesters at IU Bloomington 

• The instructor has not participated in the OCQ. Full participation is expected starting in the Fall semester of 2015. 

Currently, the OCQ student-access questions are: 

• How likely would you be to recommend this course with this instructor? 

• How much did the instructor motivate you to do your best work? 

• How much did the instructor emphasize student learning and development? 

• Compared to other courses you’ve taken at IU Bloomington, how much time did this course require? 

• In a typical week, about how much time did you devote to this course? (Do not count scheduled class time, labs, etc.) 

Instructors will see Online Course Questionnaire responses, but your name will not be linked to the data returned to faculty. Administrators have access to the OCQ records and may link demographic and grade information to student responses, but students will not be identified in any reports and identifiers will be removed before data are analyzed. Additionally, only the aggregate data for the five student-access core questions will be available to students, faculty, and staff of Indiana University Bloomington through the OCQ Student Dashboard only by CAS authentication. 

OCQ Student Dashboard

In addition to the Online Course Questionnaire core questions, departments and instructors may add up to 14 additional questions for a total of 25 items per course. This gives schools, departments and professors the opportunity to target topics that will help improve the experience of future students. Because of this, courses you take in different departments are likely to have slightly different OCQ questions—and you may find that different courses in the same department also have different OCQ questions. 

Encouraging students to complete their Online Course Questionnaires (OCQs) can be challenging, but a few simple strategies can make a big difference. Here are five key tips to help improve response rates and foster meaningful feedback:

1. Assure Confidentiality Clearly and Repeatedly
   Emphasize that responses are confidential. Instructors cannot see who submitted which feedback, and don’t receive OCQ results until after grades are posted. Explain safeguards like minimum enrollment thresholds (at least five students must be enrolled in a course for the results to be released) and the absence of student-identifying information in reports. This builds trust and encourages honest feedback.
2. Give Time in Class
   Set aside dedicated class time for students to complete the OCQs. Leave the room (or log off in virtual settings) to replicate the neutrality of paper-based evaluations and to signal respect for the feedback process.
3. Use QR Codes for Easy Access
   Display or share QR codes in class or online course materials. Simplifying access to the OCQ form removes barriers and increases the likelihood of participation. QR codes are provided in the “Subject Management” task, as well as links to the OCQ for instructor use.
4. Provide Incentives (With Department Approval)
   Consider fun, creative, and low-stakes incentives like snacks, exam tips, or lighthearted challenges (e.g., wear a funny hat to class if target is met). Make sure incentives are approved by your department. A shared class goal (e.g., 80% response rate) can foster a sense of collective purpose.
5. Show Students Their Feedback Matters
   Share specific examples of changes you've made based on past OCQ feedback. This demonstrates that their input has a real impact and encourages more thoughtful participation.

There are several methods of accessing your OCQ Dashboard. 

• Navigate to https://coursequestionnaire.iu.edu/ 

• Follow the link provided in the task emails from ceq@iu.edu 

• Access the Online Course Questionnaire via Canvas. There is a tool on the left-hand side of each course page that will take you directly to your OCQ Dashboard. 

You will receive a Question Personalization (QP) task email that includes a link for you to access this feature. You will NOT be able to access the QP feature using your Online Course Questionnaire Dashboard. 

KB guide to OCQ personalization 

Faculty members and department administrators may access reports by either following the link provided in the notification email or by accessing their Online Course Questionnaire Dashboard.

Results are available approximately one month from the end of the full semester and after grades have been posted. OCQ reports include data from all eligible courses in a semester and therefore the reports cannot be generated until the end of the semester. 

When the reports are available, faculty and department administrators will receive an automated email notifying them that the reports are available. Reports can be accessed either from the link provided in the email or by going to your OCQ Dashboard. Please keep in mind these emails may be sent during the same time frame as other automated emails regarding the new term. 

OCQ Dashboard 

Contact the person handling the OCQ in your department, and have them contact the OCQ team. 

There are three types of reports the course evaluation team creates: 

• Individual 
• Combined 
• Departmental 

Individual 

An individual report is created for every section (except cross-listed/joint-listed courses). The faculty member teaching the course and the department administrators from the department the course falls under will have access to the report. If the course is taught by more than one person, a report will be created for each individual that only shows the individual’s results. If the faculty member adds additional questions using the Question Personalization feature, only the faculty member’s individual report will show the results to the added questions. Department administrators will not have access to the results of faculty added questions. The individual reports are the first type of reports to be created and generated. These are completed in batches, so the individual reports will roll out over a period of time. 

Combined 

Combined reports are created automatically for all cross-listed/joint-listed courses. Combined reports are the second type of report created and generated after individual reports. Individual reports will not be created for the individual sections that are part of a cross-listed/joint-listed course. This policy is in place to help protect the identity of students who are enrolled in a section with low enrollment. Combined reports can be created for courses that are not cross-listed/joint-listed upon request. 

Departmental 

Departmental reports are the final type of report created and generated. These reports show the quantitative results for all courses that share a common department code. Department administrators have access to these reports. 

There are two reasons why the OCQ Dashboard states “threshold not met”. 

• No students completed their questionnaires for the course. 
• A minimum of five students must be enrolled in the course in order for a report to be generated as per Bloomington Faculty Council (BFC) policy. Combined reports are a possible method of meeting the minimum enrollment requirement. A combined report will automatically be created for cross-listed/joint-listed courses assuming the total enrollment is five students or more. 

The person who is the OCQ contact for the department or the department chair can contact our team to discuss methods of obtaining the data for low enrollment courses if necessary.