York University courses are supported by the Online Course Evaluation system (ONCE). ONCE is designed to allow students to complete the evaluation form online. During the evaluation period, ONCE sends email communications and reminders to students to complete their evaluations.
The Online Course Evaluation system (ONCE) is available for both the Undergraduate and Graduate courses.
Instructors have direct access to their course result reports as soon the final grades are released to students. ONCE will be used going forward and simultaneously supports online and in-person instructions. For more details see the York University Sustainability Strategy.
Note: For ONCE staff training and access information, please scroll to the bottom of this page.
Important Timelines
Terms: Fall, Winter, Summer and Year
| Process Phase | Timing |
|---|---|
| Course evaluation period for students | F term: November 18, 2024 – December 4, 2024 W and Y term: March 24, 2025 – April 7, 2025 |
| ONCE link & confirm deadline | F term: November 15, 2024 W and Y term: March 21, 2025 |
| Results for ONCE available | F term: January 15th W and Y term: May 15th S term: September 15th |
Protocols for Instructors
- Instructors are encouraged to communicate the importance of course evaluations with students ahead of the scheduled timelines.
- Setting a day and time or a synchronous session to conduct online course evaluations for each of your courses is one of the most effective ways to note the importance of evaluations; it is also one of the key metrics, to high response rates. Completion of online evaluations can be facilitated by requesting that students access their smart devices or laptops to complete them.
- Access to ONCE is via a Passport York account. The best supported browser is Safari and Chrome.
- Online Course evaluation results/reports via the ONCE system are available to instructors after the official grades have been submitted and released to students.
Protocols for Students
- Students are directed to complete their online course evaluation from the Online Course Evaluation system (ONCE).
- Students can access the system with their student Passport York Account where they will find a list of their registered courses.
- They will follow the hyperlink to access the questionnaire.
- The evaluation is confidential and anonymous.
Process
Action for School/Department Staff Designate: Your designate will link and confirm your courses prior to the evaluation period start date. Note: For multiple course listing pages, each and every course listing page will need to be separately linked and confirmed.
Please ensure you inform the designate in advance of your participation. Please note only undergraduate courses automatically deliver the university’s Core Institutional Questions (CIQs), graduate Courses do not have CIQ’s.
The LA&PS Faculty Course Evaluation is listed in ONCE as: **AP Standard Course Evaluation with CIQ’s – USE THIS ONE**
If your department/school has its own custom evaluation, then this is the one you should be linking to instead of the AP Standard. Please confirm with your administrative coordinator or UPD.
Non-Harmonized Terms
For courses in non-harmonized terms that would like to use ONCE to set up custom evaluation dates, please email esohelp@yorku.ca with your course information as soon as possible, and our eServices staff will set up the term in ONCE. Program staff will continue to link and confirm after the initial set up. Non-Harmonized terms are as follows:
- Fall: (GS) E1, FA, FB
- Winter: WS
- Summer: I1, I2, I3, J1, J2, J3, S3, D2, OA, OB, OC, OD, OE, G1, G2, C1, C2, C4.
Graduate Courses
In addition to non-harmonized courses, if you have any graduate studies courses scheduled in harmonized terms, but require custom course evaluation dates, please email esohelp@yorku.ca with the course information and timelines needed. Please link and confirm the evaluation as usual, even prior to your request.
NOTE: For all courses running custom timelines for their course evaluations program staff or course instructors will need to send out a communication either by email or in eClass, directing students to the Course Evaluations website, in order for students to know about completing the evaluations. UIT only sends communications for harmonized terms.
ONCE Online Staff Training
There is a ONCE eLearning training course for program staff and instructors.
The course is posted on YU Learn and requires logging in with a Passport York Account.
1. Register for ONCE – Online Course Evaluation System on YU Learn
2. After registering, you can access the course site via your YU Learn Dashboard page.
Resources
- The Benefits of Online Course Evaluations (PDF)
- Online Course Evaluations website (ONCE)
- How to retrieve Course Evaluations Reports (PDF)
- Teaching Commons
- Senate policies on student teaching evaluations
Support
Email support by topic:
- For ONCE Online Course evaluation staff access and system questions: askit@yorku.ca
- For LA&PS related course questions: esohelp@yorku.ca
- For ONCE Moodle Course inquiries: LDTech@yorku.ca