Course Evaluations
Feedback from students in the form of course evaluations offers valuable insights for making changes and improving classes.
PNW has adopted the Blue by Explorance system to conduct course evaluations.
Student FAQs
General Questions
You can access your course evaluations in one of three ways:
- Login to https://pnw.bluera.com/pnw/ with your Purdue Northwest credentials (if prompted, choose “Users_Students” as your data source).
- Follow the links included in email communications.
- Access Brightspace and click the link in the pop-up box upon login, or click on “Course Evaluations” in the “Course Tools” drop down menu.
If you have technical issues logging in with your ID or password, please contact the Customer Service Center for assistance at 989-2888. If you are able to login to other Purdue Northwest systems (e.g. MyPNW, Brightspace) and are still having problems with your course evaluations, please send an email to course_evaluations@pnw.edu.
If you are able to login but do not see your course(s) or have any other problems completing your course evaluation(s), please contact course_evaluations@pnw.edu.
Yes, instructors will not be able to identify which responses to the evaluation are yours (as long as you do not provide any identifiable information about yourself).
No. An instructor is not able to tell which specific students have or have not completed the course evaluation. Instead, they will be told how many students and the corresponding percentage of the class enrollment have completed the course evaluation. They are able to monitor response rates in real-time while surveys are available to students.
Instructors receive the results of the course evaluations only after the final grades have been submitted. Even then, they will not be able to identify individual student responses.
Completing your Course Evaluations
The evaluation schedule is determined by the official course end date. Full semester (16-week) course evaluations run the last 2 weeks of the semester (prior to finals week). Evaluations for shorter parts of the term begin on the Monday of the last week of class and continue throughout the following week after the class ends.
You will receive an email to your PNW email account with the link to the survey. Links to your course evaluations will also appear in Brightspace when the surveys are available to complete.
No, course evaluation email communication can only be sent to your official PNW email account.
- You should look for an email addressed from “Course Evaluations” (course_evaluations@pnw.edu)
- Subject line for the initial message: “Course Evaluations now available – Please complete today!”
- Subject line for reminder message: “Tell them what you think – Complete your course evaluations NOW”
- Subject line for final reminder message: “Last chance – Complete your Course Evaluations TODAY!”
The system is set to automatically create reminders. You will receive 2 reminder messages during the survey timeframe. Once all your surveys have been completed, you will no longer receive these messages.
Yes, you can access the survey using any device with a wireless internet connection (smartphone, iPad, tablet, laptop, etc.). You can also check with your instructor to see if they are setting aside time in class to complete the surveys.
Yes and No. Yes, you can edit your responses if you have previously saved your evaluation. No, you cannot edit if you have already submitted your evaluation responses.
For example, if you are unable to complete the evaluation in one session, make sure you save your responses by clicking the “SAVE” button. You can then go back and edit your responses until you submit the final evaluation.
After you complete the evaluation, click the “SUBMIT” button. Once you click submit, you will no longer be able to edit your responses. If you only save your responses and never click the submit button, your responses will not be included in the evaluation results for that course.
No, you are not able to skip questions on the survey.
No. Once the course evaluation availability window for the semester has passed, you will not be able to complete your course evaluation(s).
No, you will not be able to complete an evaluation for a course if you have withdrawn or dropped that course. You must be on the class roster at the time of the survey in order to complete the course evaluation.