Online Course Questionnaire (OCQ) at IU Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington uses Online Course Questionnaire (OCQ) to collect student feedback on courses and teaching. OCQs are administered during the final weeks of classes and close before final exams begin.
OCQ has been used campus-wide since Fall 2015 and is given in most courses unless an exception is approved. The average campus-wide response rate across semesters is approximately 48%.
Each instructor receives a report that summarizes the students’ feedback. Students are not identified in the report, and instructors will not receive any data that links student responses by student name.
The Bloomington campus policy on OCQ is available here: BL-ACA-H39
How to access OCQ
Students can complete the questionnaires and instructors/supervisors can view reports through several access points:
OCQ includes nine campus-wide rating-scale questions and two open-ended questions.
These four campus-wide questions focus on course design and teaching effectiveness:
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.)?
The next five questions help other students understand the course:
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.)
Departments may omit or replace them with their own:
What did you like most about this course and instructor?
What did you like least about this course and instructor?
Departments and schools may add custom questions with faculty approval.
Instructors may add their own questions through the Question Personalization feature in the OCQ portal; responses for these are visible only to that instructor and excluded from supervisor reports.
Reporting and results
Different report types are provided based on institutional role and access permissions. After a course evaluation closes, two standard reports—Individual (Instructor) and Supervisor reports—are automatically created and shared.
Reports are available after final grades are submitted
Instructor reports are released only for courses with at least five enrolled students
Individual (Instructor) reports
Created for each instructors
Include department-level questions
Include instructor-added questions (visible only to that instructor)
Supervisor reports
Available to department administrators and supervisors
Do not include instructor-added questions
For custom reports or additional analysis, contact ceq@iu.edu.
OCQ data retention
OCQ results are retained as part of the faculty record in accordance with IU records retention policy. Results are retained permanently under IU policy, though access may change after leaving IU. Instructors and departments are strongly encouraged to download and keep copies of reports.
