Scheduling Surveys
At the beginning of each term, the CES team contacts Departments and Schools to review and confirm survey scheduling using the CES Portal. Most courses are automatically assigned the regular survey period (the last two weeks of classes). For shorter courses (e.g., intersession), the survey period typically falls during the final week of class. Additionally, courses with fewer than five students are automatically excluded to protect student identity. Once scheduling is complete, instructors receive an email with their survey schedule and an invitation to begin creating their own survey questions.
Managers of Academic and Administrative Services
The CES team relies on the Manager of Academic and Administrative Services in each Academic Unit to review, edit, and verify the survey schedule using the CES Portal. Managers are notified via email when the two-week scheduling window opens. The scheduler in the CES Portal allows Managers to:
- Include1 or exclude2 course sections
- Adjust survey start and end dates
- Merge course sections into one survey (and one report)
After the initial schedule is sent to instructors, they may contact Managers for further edits up until the survey start date.
Note 1, Inclusions: If a course needs to be included during the survey period or after it has ended, please email cesurvey@sfu.ca. These requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but cannot be fulfilled once the grade deadline for the term has passed.
Note 2, Exclusions: Courses may be excluded at the discretion of the Manager when the course format clearly does not align with common core and discipline survey questions. If an instructor requests that their course should be excluded for any other reason, the request must be reviewed and approved in writing by the head of the Academic Unit (Chair, Director, or Associate). To ensure consistent implementation and fairness across SFU, written requests should include cesurvey@sfu.ca before the course can be excluded from the schedule.
Instructors
After Managers complete the initial CES scheduling, instructors will receive an email with their survey schedule along with an invitation to begin creating survey questions. Scheduling change requests (e.g. inclusion/exclusion, dates, or section merging) can be submitted to the Manager of the Academic Unit. Managers can make adjustments up until the survey start date.
Instructors should request that their course is excluded from the CES schedule if the format does not align with the common core and discipline survey questions. Requests for exclusion beyond this reasoning require written approval from the head of the Academic Unit (Chair, Director or Associate), with cesurvey@sfu.ca included.
Chairs and Directors of Academic Units
Instructors may request adjustments to survey scheduling (e.g. inclusion/exclusion, dates, or section merging) directly through their unit’s Manager of Academic and Administrative Services. Requests to exclude a course from CES may be made by an instructor directly to a Manager when there is a clear argument that the course format does not align with the common core and discipline question sets.
Requests for exclusion beyond this reasoning require written approval from the Academic Unit head. In most cases, this will be the Department Chair or School Director. In some units, this responsibility may sit with an Associate Chair or Associate Director where CES oversight falls within their portfolio.
All written requests for exclusion should include cesurvey@sfu.ca to ensure consistent implementation and fairness across SFU.
Leaders of academic units do not automatically receive access to the CES Scheduler; however, access may be requested from the CES team as needed.
CONTACT US
cesurvey@sfu.ca