Student course ratings are crucial to The New School’s efforts to provide high-quality education. Course ratings offer students an opportunity to share candid feedback with their teachers, who use the feedback to modify or improve course content, format, and approaches.

All courses at The New School can now be evaluated through the online system. The system is easy to use, flexible, and anonymous. It provides faculty with faster, more comprehensive feedback. The online ratings system also saves paper, in accordance with the university’s commitment to sustainability.

The course rating period for the spring 2013 term runs from Monday, May 6, to Monday, May 27.

New! Drawing on the experience of a number of institutions, we have decided to give students who complete course ratings early access to their final grades in those courses. During the evaluation period, May 6-May 27, students who have filled out the ratings form for a course or formally declined to provide feedback will be able to see their course grade when it is posted. All students will be able to view their posted grades beginning May 28.

• If your instructor submits a grade during the evaluation period, you will be able to view the grade as soon as it is posted if you have submitted the ratings form or formally declined to give feedback.

• If a grade has been submitted by the instructor but you have not provided feedback through the ratings form or declined to do so, you will see the grade IP in Grade View or on your official or unofficial transcript. Your grade for the class will be available to you once you provide (or formally decline to provide) feedback.

• Please note that once you have submitted a ratings form, it may take up to two hours for the system to update your Grade View access. (If you submit your course rating between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., you'll see submitted grades after 7:00 a.m.)

• Please note that in Degree Works, grades of IP appear both for ungraded courses and graded courses for which no ratings form has been submitted. Your grade will be revealed after you submit a ratings form or decline to do so in the system.

View a sample online evaluation form.

You can access course surveys in several ways:

• Fill out surveys on your phone. Free EvaluationKit apps are available for iPhones and Android devices. Go to the Android or iPhone app store to download EvaluationKit Mobile. You will need a token to activate the EvaluationKit Mobile the first time you use it. Students and faculty will receive emails at the beginning of the course ratings period containing an EvaluationKit token that will authenticate them for the mobile app. The token is different for each user; do not use someone else's token. If you need a new token, you can email New School Online at blackboard@newschool.edu. If you have questions about the mobile app, email us at blackboard@newschool.edu.
• Use the link sent to your New School email account. The link will take you to the evaluation site. Reminder emails are sent several times during the period to students who have not completed course evaluations. If you lose track of the link, you can email a request to blackboard@newschool.edu, and the link will be re-sent.
• Use the link on the Blackboard home page. During the evaluation period, a box with a link will pop up when you open Blackboard. You can either follow the link to the online course evaluation or close the box and enter the online class.
• Link to "Course Evaluations" from the Blackboard course site. You can find the "Course Evaluations" link In the "Tools" menu at the left side of screen.