ICES is the acronym for the “Instructor and Course Evaluation System.” ICES was developed on this campus as one way to collect information from students about your courses and teaching. With this system, you select items from a catalog that you consider most appropriate or choose one of the complete forms pre-populated with questions. If you select items from the catalog, your choices generate a questionnaire for students. Near the top of each ICES questionnaire, there are two global items that are pre-printed. These items ask students to rate the instructor and rate the course on a five-point scale, ranging from "Exceptionally High” to “Exceptionally Low." These first two global items are used to produce longitudinal profiles. Your department may have a group of questions, called a department core, which are printed on your questionnaire after the two global questions. All Illinois instructors are encouraged to use ICES; some instructors are required to do so. ICES is used in approximately 14,000 course sections each year.

You may download a pdf of the ICES Item Catalog or call us at 217-333-3490, and we’ll send you one through campus mail.

Front of ICES Questionnaire (pdf):

The first two questions are global and are preprinted on each ICES questionnaire. These items ask students to rate the instructor and to rate the course on a five-point scale, ranging from "Exceptionally High” to “Exceptionally Low." These questions are used to produce longitudinal profiles. 23 instructor-selected questions can fit on the front side of the questionnaire unless your department has a core. A core is a common set of items that appears on all questionnaires from the department. If the department has a core, it limits the number of instructor items to 23 minus the number of items in the departmental core.

 

Back of ICES Questionnaire (pdf): Students have space to write comments in response to the following 4 questions:

1. What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the instructor?
2. What aspects of this course were most beneficial to you?
3. What do you suggest to improve this course?
4. Comment on the grading procedures and exams.

There are 2 additional spaces after these four questions. You can use these to get student feedback about very specific course issues. Write your questions on the board or in your PowerPoint, and ask students to write their responses in the blank spaces.

Fill out one ICES request form for each class section. So, if you have two sections of a course, you need to fill out two request forms. These forms should be sent to you each semester by the Measurement & Evaluation office, or you can ask for them in your departmental office. Fill out the information requested on both sides of the request forms. Special note for TA's: On the ICES request form, all graduate students who are teaching should mark "Teaching Assistant" in section 6 for "Your Rank." Send the completed request forms in the envelope provided through campus mail to M & E, 247 Armory, MC-528.

The timetable for ICES varies with the academic calendar. However, the deadline for turning in requests for ICES questionnaires comes about three weeks before the end of classes in any given semester. Please allow ten business days for forms to be printed and sent to you.

Generally, teaching assistants receive their packets from the departments. When we send out the first ICES mailing of the semester, we ask how many teaching assistants each department has, and then we send that many packets to the department.

ICES Request Form: Front (see pdf): Fill out the information requested on Side 1: 1 - 11. One request form is needed for each course section you teach.

ICES Request Form: Back (see pdf): In order to fill in Side 2, you have to decide first which ICES options you can use. Once you've decided what option to use and the number of questions you can ask, go to the ICES Catalog and select the questions. On Side 2 of each ICES request form, darken the circles beneath the numbers of the selected questions.

Each semester, you have to fill out new ICES request forms for each course or section. This is so even if you are using a departmental core or one of the complete forms. Even if the items don't change, the number of forms you need, your rank, and the release information may change. Therefore, you should keep track of the items you choose each semester, especially if you select them individually and think you may want to use them again.Send the completed request forms through campus mail to M&E, 247 Armory, MC-528.

To check your department, click here.

All ICES questionnaires have two global items at the beginning. Instructors may select up to 23 items in addition to these global items.  Please note that many departments have a set of mandatory items, referred to as a core, for their instructors and TAs that will be printed automatically. An instructor can verify if their department has a core and the number of items here.  Please check with your department if you will not use your department core. Instructors can use any combination of options 1, 2, and 3 to include up to 23 items or select a complete form as listed in option 4 below.

1. Department core: Instructors can have only the department core which is printed automatically. If additional items are to be needed, use options 2 and/or 3.

2. Student Core: Any instructor, excluding TAs, may select the six University Student Publication core items. These items can be found in the below question, "What is the university student publication and what questions do they use?" Please note that if these items are selected the Illinois Student Senate will be granted access to the data for these items and the two global items. Fill in the ‘Yes’ bubble labeled University Student Publication in box 7 of the Faculty Request Form to employ them.

3. Instructor-selected items: You may select up to 23 items from the ICES catalog. You may choose a different set of items for each section since you fill out one request form for each section of students who provide feedback. You also need to know that ifyou select too many items, some will necessarily be omitted. Questions are printed in this order: departmental core items first (if there is a department core), then the student core items (if selected), and finally the instructor-selected items. 

4. Complete form: You can select one of the complete forms if you wish. These are ready-made questionnaires that are available for you to use if your department doesn't have a core and you don't want to choose items from the catalog. Note: The system doesn't allow for using both a complete form and instructor-selected items on the same questionnaire. 

Caution:Please do not use questionnaires generated in past semesters, as they cannot be processed. Photocopied questionnaires are not acceptable either. 

23 instructor-selected questions can fit on the front side of the questionnaire unless the department has a core. A core is a common set of items that appears on all questionnaires from the department. If the department has a core, it limits the number of instructor items to 23 minus the number of items in the departmental core.If you check the student publication option on Box 7 on the ICES request form, your student questionnaires will contain an additional set of items.

The timetable for ICES varies from semester to semester. The deadline for turning in requests for ICES questionnaires usually comes a couple of weeks before the end of classes in any given semester. Please allow ten business days for forms to be printed and sent to you. During the last week of the semester, a very limited supply of Complete Forms may be available in Room 247 Armory Building. These will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis until the supply is exhausted. For questions, please call 244-3846 or e-mail ices@illinois.edu.

You have the option of choosing a questionnaire with pre-selected items for your ICES. (You choose this option by marking one of the blocks in the right-hand column marked Complete Forms on Side 2 of the ICES request form. The choices available in complete forms are:

Form CEQ 2 consists of 10 general items and 3 items related to student learning. Developed by Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.

Form 1 consists of 21 general concept questions (a good general diagnostic tool). Please note than Form 1 is no longer available as a counter form. If you need to use this form, please order it before the deadline for the semester.

Form 7: CLQ: Costin's Lecturing Questionnaire contains 23 items primarily applicable to large lecture sections.

Student core: Contains six items which are released, along with the two global items, to the Illinois Student Senate for posting to their web site.

General Questionnaire: Contains nine items designed to be used in a broad array of course types.

General Questionnaire plus student core: Combines the previous two forms into one form. The results of the six student items will be released (and two global items) to Illinois Student Senate.

Form Global: This form contains only the two global preprinted questions, Rate the Instructor and Rate the Course. Call us at 344-3490 if you want to use the Global form.

If you decide to use one of the forms, departmental core items will not be included on your ICES questionnaires, and you can't add either instructor selected items or the student core.

Once your class has completed the ICES questionnaires, it is important that you not handle them at all. Designate a student in the class to collect the completed ICES forms, put them in the self-addressed envelope provided, and then either drop the envelope in the nearest campus mailbox or bring them by the ICES office at 247 Armory.

ICES results are processed after final exams. Results are sent through the campus mail to instructors within about a month. The precise schedule varies somewhat from semester to semester.

Copies of Newsletter #4 ICES Interpretive Guide are available by sending a note to ices@illinois.edu or by calling the ICES office at 217-333-3490.

ICES ratings can be used in a number of ways within two broad areas: improving teaching and making decisions. As examples of the first, you might ask how students feel about a specific aspect of a course, e.g., a specific teaching strategy. After looking over student responses to the question and discussing them with colleagues who teach well, you'd be in a good position to make appropriate changes. Another way that ICES results are used to improve teaching is during department seminars about good teaching where faculty pair off to discuss their ICES. And, third, department heads use ICES as one way to identify instructors who might benefit from help with their teaching (for more on this, give CITL's Instructional Development a call at 244-3861).

Longitudinal profiles are an important tool in decision-making, the second area of the use of ICES ratings. Longitudinal profiles list all of an instructor's ratings on the ICES global items 1 and 2. The profiles are used in promotion and tenure decisions and for some teaching awards (profiles are prepared for Teaching Assistants only when they are nominated for teaching awards by their departments). Faculty members can request a longitudinal profile by going to the longitudinal profiles page. 

When you fill out an ICES request form, you determine in Box 7, Release Information, who will receive ICES results.
1. If you indicate YES for the Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students, your name and course number are published if the results qualify.
2. If you indicate YES for the university student publication, the results from the extra set of items added to your student questionnaires are published by the Illinois Student Government.
3. If you indicate YES for Department Head, chp., or other person..., one copy of your results for items 1 and 2 as well as the results on your department core (if one exists) are sent to the department head or his/her representative. Your signature is required for this information to be released to the person designated.

Please note that the departments DO NOT get results of the open-ended items. Those are intended only for the individual instructor. Also, if extra individual items are added by an instructor, those results DO NOT go back to the department either.

A "List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students" is compiled each semester. It is based on the previous semester's student ICES ratings on the first two global ICES items, "Rate the Instructor's Overall Teaching Effectiveness" and "Rate the Overall Quality of this Course." To be included in the list, instructors must meet the following criteria on ICES item #1 and #2:

NOTE: "TA's" include anyone who marked "Teaching Assistant" as their rank on the ICES request form. "Faculty" includes all other ranks. All graduate students should mark "TA" as their rank even if they have full control of a course. 

You have to give permission before your student ratings can be considered for inclusion on the List. You do so by completing the List option of Box 7 on the ICES request form. The list is "incomplete" for a number of reasons, including:

1. Instructors may choose not to participate in the list.
2. Instructors might not have completed Box 7 on the Request Form.
3. Not all instructors use ICES.
4. Too few students (fewer than 5) may have responded to the first two items.
5. For some instructors who did complete Box 7 and whose students did respond to the first two items, ratings may not be representative of teaching ability.

The Illinois Student Senate (formerly "Illinois Student Government") publishes results of ICES data if released by faculty. If you check the "student publication" option of Box 7 of the ICES request form, this additional set of 6 items is printed on your student ICES questionnaires:

Results from this set of items AND FROM THE TWO GLOBAL ICES ITEMS are then given to the Illinois Student Senate (ISS) and may be published on the ISS website. Note: The student core is not available for TAs to select.

Longitudinal profiles are used in promotion and tenure decisions and for some teaching awards. Instructors (faculty and TAs) can request a longitudinal profile at any time by using our web-based profile request form.

Each semester, you have to fill out new ICES request forms for each course or section even if you are using a departmental core or one of the complete forms. Even if the items don't change, the number of forms you need, your rank, and the release information may change. Therefore, you should keep track of the items you choose each semester, especially if you select them individually and think you may want to use them again.

All Spring 2023 sections will use ICES Online.

Only the course sections that are taught online and few departments use the ICES Online system for all their courses. All other courses use the paper-based ICES.

In the interest of the department, an entire department would need to adopt the ICES Online system to avoid complications with managing both systems. If your department is interested in using the ICES Online system for all of its courses, please contact us at ices@illinois.edu.