ICES FAQs

• What is ICES?

  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. Using the ICES Online system, you select items that you consider most appropriate or choose one of the complete forms pre-populated with questions. If you select items from the catalog, they will be added to your ICES questionnaire for students. Near the top of each ICES questionnaire, there are three global items. These items ask students to rate the instructor, rate the course, and rate how much they have learned in the course on a five-point scale. The first two global items are used to produce longitudinal profiles. Your department may have a group of questions, called a department core, which are added to your questionnaire after the three 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.
  

• What is ICES Online?

  ICES Online is a web-based system used to administer ICES questionnaires. In ICES Online, instructors or departments can create their ICES questionnaires; students complete the questionnaires in ICES Online; and instructors and departments can access the ICES results in ICES Online.

• How can I use ICES Online?

  We automatically load all eligible courses into ICES Online. By default, this excludes Independent Study (IND) sections, Research (RES) sections, internship and study abroad sections without a classroom component, and sections consisting only of a series of speakers. Please contact us at ices@illinois.edu if your section has not been loaded when it should have been.
  Only individuals regularly interacting with all of the students registered in a section in a teaching capacity are eligible to administer ICES. Those who are only grading, staffing office hours, or providing other forms of administrative support are not eligible.
  The ICES Online system will load any instructor who has greater than 0% responsibility for a course (as listed in Banner). Your departmental scheduler is responsible for ensuring this information is accurate in Banner. 
  For an instructor tutorial on creating ICES evaluation forms, please view our Creating Evaluation Forms video.
  For an instructor tutorial on viewing ICES Online results, please view our How to View ICES Online Results video.

• Why is my class section not appearing in ICES Online?

  Only instructors with a greater than 0% responsibility for a course (as listed in Banner) will be loaded into ICES Online. Also, Independent Study (IND) sections, Research (RES) sections, internship and study abroad sections without a classroom component, and sections consisting only of a series of speakers are automatically excluded from ICES Online.

  Only individuals regularly interacting with all of the students registered in a section in a teaching capacity are eligible to administer ICES.  Those who are only grading, staffing office hours, or providing other forms of administrative support are not eligible.

  If you think there’s an error, please notify us via email at ices@illinois.edu.

• What types of items can I put on an ICES questionnaire?

  Keep in mind that some departments’ ICES questionnaires are “centrally prepared,” which means that the department’s Forms Preparer creates the ICES questionnaires on each instructor’s behalf. 
  If your department doesn’t create your questionnaires for you, then it’s the instructor’s responsibility to create their form.
  All ICES questionnaires have three global items at the beginning. Additionally, some departments have one or more sets of mandatory items, referred to as a department core, which are used on your ICES questionnaire. When creating your questionnaire, please check that ICES Online has assigned the appropriate core to your section. 
  When updating the release options for your questionnaire, you also have the choice of adding the student core to your questionnaire. The student core consists of six Student Government Core Items. These items can be found in the FAQ "What is the Student Government Core and how is it used?" Please note that if these items are selected, then the Illinois Student Senate will be granted access to the data for these items and the Global Items. 
  So long as the questionnaire doesn’t exceed 26 items, you may choose instructor-selected items from the ICES Item Catalog (PDF), which contains hundreds of items for you to choose from.
  ICES questionnaires also include three open-ended items by default. In addition to these three items, you may also write up to three open-ended items of your own. 
  There are also various complete forms, which are questionnaires of pre-selected items, available for your use. Please see the FAQ “What are the ICES complete forms?” for a description of the complete forms you may choose from.
  For a list of items and pre-designed complete forms, please view the ICES Item Catalog (PDF).
  For an in-depth tutorial on creating ICES questionnaires, please watch our ICES form creation video.

• How can I add items from the ICES Item Catalog?

  When creating a form in ICES Online, items from the ICES Catalog can be found in the “Your ICES Catalog Item” section of the form creation menu. You may also view items in the following PDF version of the ICES Item Catalog (PDF). Instructors whose forms are centrally prepared by their department will not be able to add items from the ICES catalog. In that case, forms are created by the department’s Forms Preparer; to tailor your own centrally prepared form, you would need to request Instructor Access from your Forms Preparer. 

• What if my department orders the online forms for us (“centrally prepared”)—do I do anything?

  In ICES Online, some departments create the online evaluation forms for their instructors. In this case, you'll receive an email from ICES Online when your course is loaded indicating that your department is creating forms on your behalf. You don't need to do anything. You can still log into ICES Online and see the evaluation form your department created, but you cannot alter the form. If you have special requests, please see your department so they can adjust the online questions, release of results, the evaluation dates, or any other aspect of your form(s).

• What does an ICES Questionnaire look like?

  Each ICES questionnaire begins with three global items which are rated using a five-point scale. These items are as follows:

  • Rate the instructor’s overall teaching effectiveness. [Exceptionally Low … Exceptionally High]
  • Rate the overall quality of this course. [Exceptionally Low … Exceptionally High]
  • How much have you learned in this course? [Very Little … A Great Deal]

  The first two global items are used to produce longitudinal profiles.
  Some departments have one or more sets of items, called a department core, which appears on all questionnaires for which it applies. Instructors may also choose additional items as long as the questionnaire does not exceed 26 rated items.

  ICES questionnaires also include three open-ended items by default and allow instructors to create up to three additional open-ended items.
  The three default open-ended items are as follows:

  • What are the major strengths of the instructor/course?
  • What do you suggest to improve the course?
  • Please comment on the grading procedures in the course.

  Note: Some departments are “centrally prepared,” meaning that the department creates questionnaires for their instructors. If this is your situation, you do not need to create your questionnaire.

  For an in-depth tutorial on creating ICES questionnaires, please watch our ICES form creation video.

• What is a department core?

  A department core is a set of items that a department has chosen to add to its ICES forms. Some departments don’t have a core; some have one core for all sections; some have multiple cores that are used for different instructional settings or instructor types. ICES Online automatically selects the department core that is most appropriate for your section. You may review your department core in ICES Online. Please note that the results for the department core items are made available to your department unless the release option for sending results to your department is turned off.
  

• What is the Student Government Core and how is it used?

  The Illinois Student Senate (ISS) publishes results of ICES data if released by faculty. If you choose to release your results to the ISS in the release options page of ICES Online, then this additional set of 6 items is printed on your student ICES questionnaires:

  1.	The required texts and other materials were effectively utilized in the course.	Strongly Agree - - - - - Strongly Disagree
  2.	The instructor was respectful of differing beliefs on race, religion, or politics.	Strongly Agree - - - - - Strongly Disagree
  3.	Grading procedures for the course were fair.	Strongly Agree - - - - - Strongly Disagree
  4.	The workload for the course was appropriate for the credit received.	Strongly Agree - - - - - Strongly Disagree
  5.	The instructor was accessible to students.	Strongly Agree - - - - - Strongly Disagree
  6.	The instructor explained material clearly.	Strongly Agree - - - - - Strongly Disagree

  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 their website.

  Note: The student core is not available for TAs to select.

• When is the deadline for creating my ICES questionnaires in ICES Online?

  You will receive an email when your questionnaire is loaded in ICES Online. If you do not create the questionnaire three days before the evaluation period’s start date, then a default questionnaire will be created for you. This default questionnaire will include only the demographic items, the three global items, and the three default open-ended questions. A default form also will not release your results to your department or the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students. Even if a default form is created, you will still have the opportunity to alter it, including its release options, up until the day before the evaluation is scheduled to become available to students.
  Note: Some departments are centrally prepared, meaning that the department creates the questionnaires for its instructors. If this is your situation, you may want to log in ICES Online to ensure that the correct questionnaires have been created for you, but you do not need to alter them.

• What are the ICES complete forms?

  You have the option of choosing a questionnaire with pre-selected items for your ICES form. You can choose complete forms in the “Pre-Designed Complete Forms” section of ICES Online. We recommend choosing the CEQ2, Lecture, Discussion, or Online forms as they have been designed most recently.
  The choices available for complete forms are as follows:

  • Course Evaluation Questionnaire 2 (CEQ2): Consists of twelve items that are applicable to most courses. The CEQ2 is a new and improved version of the CEQ.
  • Lecture: A new and improved version of the CLQ. Contains twelve items best suited for use in lecture sections.
  • Discussion: Contains nine items best suited for use in discussion sections.
  • Online: Contains fifteen items best suited for online instruction.
  • Curriculum, Technology, & Educational Reform (CTER): Contains 23 items primarily applicable to large lecture sections.
  • Course Lecture Questionnaire (CLQ): Contains 23 items primarily applicable to large lecture sections.
  • Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ): Consists of 21 general items with 5 subscores and a total score with norms on all the above. Uses a 5-point Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree response format.
  • General Questionnaire: Contains nine items designed to be used in a broad array of course types.

  To view the items on each complete form, see page 43 of the ICES Item Catalog (PDF).

• I want to use the same items I used last semester. Will I have to complete a new request form this semester?

  When creating a form in ICES Online, you have the option of reusing a questionnaire that you created in a previous semester. To do this, click “Copy” near the bottom of ICES Online’s form creation page. For more detailed instructions, view our Creating Evaluation Forms video beginning at the 5:10 mark.

• How are ICES ratings used?

  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, such as 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. Also, department heads use ICES as one way to identify instructors who might benefit from help with their teaching (for more on this, contact CITL at citl-info@illinois.edu).
  Longitudinal profiles are an important tool in decision-making. Longitudinal profiles list all of an instructor's ratings for ICES global items 1 and 2. The profiles are used in promotion and tenure decisions and for some teaching awards. Instructors can request a longitudinal profile by going to the longitudinal profiles webpage.

• What is the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students... and how can I get on it?

  The "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:

  ICES Item #1 (Effectiveness of Instructor)   Required Mixed Elective Faculty 4.4 4.5 4.6 TAs 4.3 4.4 4.5

  ICES Item #2 (Quality of Course)   Required Mixed Elective Faculty 4.3 4.4 4.5 TAs n/a n/a n/a

  You must give permission before your student ratings can be considered for inclusion on the List. You can release your name to be included on the List by updating the Release Options section in ICES Online before the evaluation period begins. 

  The list is "incomplete" for several reasons, including:

  1. Instructors might not have given their permission to publish their name on the list.
  2. Not all instructors use ICES.
  3. Too few students (fewer than 5) may have responded to the first two items.
  4. For some instructors who gave permission to be on the list and whose students did respond to the first two items, ratings may not be representative of teaching ability.

• Who has access to my ICES results?

  You can choose who will receive ICES results in the Form Release Options section of ICES Online.

  1. If you indicate YES to “release results to your home department(s) and the course’s department (if different)” on ICES Online’s Form Release Options page, then your results for global items 1 and 2, Pre-Designed Completed Form items, and department core items will be made available to the department head and/or the department’s representative(s).  
     Please note that departments DO NOT get results of the open-ended items. Those are intended only for the individual instructor. Ratings for any individual items added by an instructor are NOT released to the department.
  2. If you indicate YES to “release results to the Illinois Student Senate” on ICES Online’s Form Release Options page, then the results from the added six student core items are sent to the Illinois Student Senate.
  3. If you indicate YES to “release your results to the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students” on ICES Online’s Form Release Options page, then your name and course number are published on the List if your results meet the qualification criteria.

• How do I view results of my ICES Online evaluations?

  ICES Online results become viewable over the web two to three weeks after final exams end. Instructors can log on to the ICES Online system and view their full results. Department administrators can also view the results if the instructor gives permission in ICES Online. No paper results are mailed to instructor or administrators. Both parties will be emailed when results are available.
  

• Where can I find my ICES scores from past semesters?

  You may request an ICES longitudinal profile at go.illinois.edu/ices-lp-info.

• What is an ICES longitudinal profile?

  Longitudinal profiles are a report of an instructor’s historical scores for ICES global items 1 and 2. Among other uses, longitudinal profiles are used for promotion and tenure decisions and for teaching awards. Instructors (faculty and TAs) can request a longitudinal profile at any time by using our web-based longitudinal profile request form.

• Will my ICES Online results show up on ICES Longitudinal Profiles?

  Yes, the first two global items on ICES Online will be stored in our database and will be placed on ICES longitudinal profiles. Your ICES Online means will be displayed, and you will receive the "norm comparative label" (Hi, Hi-Avg, Avg, Low-Avg, Low) for your ICES Online ratings compared to others that have utilized the ICES Online system.

• How is ICES Online different than the previous paper-based ICES system?

  ICES Online is web-based. In many ways, it mirrors the paper-based system. Results of both systems appear on ICES longitudinal profiles and allow you to qualify for the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students. The first two global items are identical in both systems, but ICES Online adds a third global item related to amount learned in the course. The three items are:

  • Rate the instructor's overall teaching effectiveness.
  • Rate the overall quality of this course.
  • How much have you learned in this course?

• Can instructors in a team-taught section share a single ICES questionnaire?

  Within ICES Online, each instructor has their own separate questionnaire. A single questionnaire cannot be shared among more than one instructor. There is not a single evaluation form that covers the team instructors. It would be wise to consult with your co-instructor(s) about questions you ask on your form, so you don't over burden your students with questions. You may wish to release results to your co instructor(s) as well (add their NetID to receive results).
  

• My co-instructors and I are sequentially team teaching a section, and I finish teaching before the semester’s end date. Can I administer ICES when I finish teaching, or does it have to wait until the end of the semester?

  Yes, you can administer ICES when you are finished teaching. You will need to contact us at ices@illinois.edu in a timely manner to let us know when you will be finished teaching so that we can set up ICES accordingly for you. In fact, we encourage you to reach out to us if your class is taught this way. Administering ICES soon after an instructor finishes teaching allows students to provide higher-quality feedback. It also reduces the number of ICES questionnaires students need to complete at the end of the semester, which reduces survey fatigue.

• How will my students be notified about ICES Online?

  The system will send your students an email on the first day the evaluation form becomes available to them. They will also receive up to four reminder emails before the system closes the evaluation form. Reminder emails are only sent to students who have not yet completed an evaluation. Instructors also receive a copy of the emails sent to students. We encourage you to remind your students to complete the ICES Online course evaluation. It would be beneficial to explain why the feedback is valued and how the course has changed based on past ICES feedback.

• How long are ICES Online evaluations available to students to complete?

  For full-length 16-week courses, the final evaluation form is available for fourteen days with the evaluation period set to end on Reading Day by default. However, in order to avoid conflict with the Thanksgiving Day holiday, the evaluation period for 16-week fall sections lasts twelve days and begins on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day.

  For 8-week courses, the evaluation period is ten days long by default, and it generally begins four days before the last day of the term.

  Please note that departments and instructors may choose to adjust the evaluation start and end dates.

• How many items can I have on an ICES Online evaluation form?

  In addition to the three global rated items and three open-ended items that appear on all forms, ICES Online allows for up to 23 rated items and up to three additional open-ended items. Instructors can write their own open-ended items. Instructors are not allowed to write any rated items, but we are continually expanding the item pool and welcome suggestions for new items. 

• Can I use ICES Online for mid-semester feedback?

  No. We want to use ICES Online only for the official end-of-course evaluation. We value and encourage mid-semester feedback, but do not want to confuse students by offering ICES Online for both informal and formal feedback.

• If I release results to my department, what results do they get?

  If instructors release ICES results to their department, then department administrators will receive the results of the three global items plus the department core items (if there is a department core set of items). 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 items’ results are NOT made available to the department either.

• How do I release my ICES results to my department and to the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students?

  After clicking on a section for the first time in ICES Online, you will be prompted to update the Release Options. You may also edit these options by clicking ‘Release Options’ near the bottom of the evaluation form’s creation page. You will need to update the release options for each section you are teaching.
  Please note that the release options will be locked once the evaluation period begins. After your ICES results are released, you will be able to update the release option for your department, but not for the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students. 
  

   

• How can my students or I access ICES Online?

  All users can access ICES Online at go.illinois.edu/ices-online.

• Can I administer ICES during class?

  Yes, ICES Online is a mobile-friendly website, so students can access it from their smartphones or laptops. We recommend providing students with about 10 minutes at the beginning (not the end) of class to complete their ICES evaluations.

• How can I increase my students’ response rate for ICES evaluation forms?

  Two practices that can significantly increase the response rate are the following:

  • Make the completion of ICES questionnaires a task to be completed on your course website but bear in mind that it can’t be required.  All users, including students, use the URL go.illinois.edu/ices-online to access the system.
  • Instructors can allocate time (10-15 minutes should be adequate) at the beginning, not the end, of one of their classes for students to complete the forms.  The instructor should leave the room while students are completing the forms and resume class later.

• What is the minimum number of students that a class needs to be eligible to administer ICES?

  At least three students need to be enrolled in a section for it to administer ICES. This is to help preserve the confidentiality of student responses. 

• How many students need to complete their ICES evaluations for an instructor to be eligible for the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students?

  At least five students must complete their ICES evaluations for an instructor to potentially be eligible for the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent. For faculty, this means that there must be at least five responses to global items 1 and 2. For TAs, there must be at least five responses to global item 1.

• Students need to enter their Net ID and password to fill out forms—is that ever reported back to instructors or departments?

  No. We require students to log in with their university Net ID and password (to authenticate that they are enrolled students and haven't completed an evaluation form already), but their identities (names, NetIDs, UINs, etc.) are not reported back to instructors or departments. In fact, we feel ICES Online is potentially more confidential than paper-based ICES since student comments are now typed rather than handwritten.

• Are ICES responses confidential?

  Yes, ICES responses are confidential. Instructors cannot associate student ratings with any particular student unless the student openly identifies themselves within the open-ended comment section.

• I missed the deadline to complete an ICES evaluation. Can you reopen the evaluation for me?

  Unfortunately, it is not possible to reopen an ICES evaluation after its evaluation period has ended. If you feel comfortable doing so, you could email the instructor and/or department head to provide feedback although it wouldn't be associated with ICES.