Student Surveys of Teaching
Student Surveys of Teaching (SSTs) at the University of Kansas are a critical tool used to gather feedback from students about their classroom experiences and their instructors' effectiveness for each course.
General Information
Student Surveys of Teaching are conducted each semester to:
- Improve teaching quality
- Inform faculty evaluations
- Recognize teaching excellence
- Support institutional decision-making
Surveys are sent to all students enrolled in KU classes near the end of each course. Students receive a unique survey portal link via KU email and can also access it in the global navigation of their Canvas accounts.
Starting Spring 2026:
Students will complete one survey per instructor per course, replacing the previous process of one course survey plus one survey per instructor.
The current survey instrument is available in the Quick Links on the right sidebar. The pre-2026 instrument is available here.
General Information
Survey invitation emails are sent to students' KU email address towards the end of each semester. Links to the student portal to complete the surveys are included in the email. Students will also receive two reminder emails.
First Invitation Message:
DATE: {See distribution schedule below}
FROM ADDRESS: do-not-reply@ku.edu
FROM NAME: KU Student Surveys of Teaching
REPLY-TO ADDRESS: aire-help@ku.edu
Subject: Student Surveys of Teaching
Dear {Student First Name},
You have new student surveys of teaching ready to complete.
What's new this year: Based on student and instructor feedback, we've updated the survey with new questions, more response options, and combined the course and instructor surveys — meaning fewer links each semester. If a course has multiple instructors, you'll receive a separate survey for each.
Why it matters: Your honest feedback helps instructors enhance their courses. Participation is voluntary, responses are anonymous, and results won't be shared with instructors until after final grades are submitted.
{Click here to complete your surveys.}
You can also access surveys through Canvas under Account in the Global Navigation.
Important:
- You must click SUBMIT to send your responses
- Review carefully — responses can't be changed after submission
- These surveys close: {Invitation Date + 13}.
Questions or trouble accessing a link? Contact aire-help@ku.edu.
Thank you, KU Student Surveys of Teaching Team
{Unique Student Portal Link}
Anonymity: Anonymous surveys do not collect personally identifiable information. Responses are combined with others and summarized to protect your anonymity. No personally identifiable information appears in reports unless you voluntarily provide it in comment fields.
First Reminder Message:
DATE: Day 8 of survey open timeframe
FROM ADDRESS: do-not-reply@ku.edu
FROM NAME: KU Student Surveys of Teaching
REPLY-TO ADDRESS: aire-help@ku.edu
Subject: Reminder - Student Surveys of Teaching
Hi {Student First Name},
Reminder: You have student surveys of teaching waiting to be completed.
Your honest feedback helps instructors enhance their courses. Participation is voluntary, responses are anonymous, and results won't be shared with instructors until after final grades are submitted.
{Click here to complete your surveys.}
You can also access surveys through Canvas under Account in the Global Navigation.
Important:
- You must click SUBMIT to send your responses
- Review carefully — responses can't be changed after submission
- These surveys close: {Invitation Date + 13}.
Questions or trouble accessing a link? Contact aire-help@ku.edu.
Thank you, KU Student Surveys of Teaching Team
{Unique Student Portal Link}
Anonymity: Anonymous surveys do not collect personally identifiable information. Responses are combined with others and summarized to protect your anonymity. No personally identifiable information appears in reports unless you voluntarily provide it in comment fields.
Final Reminder Message:
DATE: Day 14 of survey open timeframe
FROM ADDRESS: do-not-reply@ku.edu
FROM NAME: KU Student Surveys of Teaching
REPLY-TO ADDRESS: aire-help@ku.edu
Subject: Reminder - Student Surveys of Teaching DUE TODAY!
Hi {Student First Name},
Final reminder: Today, {Invitation Date + 13}, is the LAST DAY to complete these student surveys of teaching.
Your honest feedback helps instructors enhance their courses. Participation is voluntary, responses are anonymous, and results won't be shared with instructors until after final
grades are submitted.
{Click here to complete your surveys.}
You can also access surveys through Canvas under Account in the Global Navigation.
Important:
- You must click SUBMIT to send your responses
- Review carefully — responses can't be changed after submission
Questions or trouble accessing a link? Contact aire-help@ku.edu.
Thank you, KU Student Surveys of Teaching Team
{Unique Student Portal Link}
Anonymity: Anonymous surveys do not collect personally identifiable information. Responses are combined with others and summarized to protect your anonymity. No personally identifiable information appears in reports unless you voluntarily provide it in comment fields.
Students receive SST email invitations that include a link to the Student Survey Portal:
The Student Survey Portal displays all available SSTs, their statuses, and the SST expiration dates. It's possible that surveys will have different expiration dates because of class schedules. Once an expiration date has passed, the survey will be removed from the portal. Each course has a survey link for each instructor associated with the course. Explanatory text at the top of the portal advises students to only complete surveys for instructors that they recognize as participating in the instruction of the course.
Student SST Experience: Clicking a course name in the Student Survey Portal will open a survey for an instructor of the course. Each page of the survey includes the Course and Instructor name of the current survey. The first page of the survey includes a red arrow with instructions on how to open the left sidebar to see all instructors associated with the course. The sidebar is closed by default.
Left Sidebar: When opened, the left sidebar displays links to all available instructor surveys for the given course.
Account → Course Evaluations in the Global Navigation menu
The open and close dates for Student Surveys of Teaching are available for the given semester at:
https://kansas.sharepoint.com/teams/StudentSurveysofTeaching
SSTs of all KU-Lawrence campus courses are distributed through KU’s Qualtrics platform. Distribution timing is based on course length (from start date to end date), end date, and term:
| Term and Course Length | Category Name | OPENS (days before Course End Date) |
|---|---|---|
| Fall/Spring, 1 day | 1 Day | 0 |
| Fall/Spring, 2-14 days | 2-14 Day | 1 |
| Fall/Spring, 15-28 days* | Short | 5 |
| Fall/Spring, 29-97 days | Middle | 10 |
| Fall/Spring, 98+ days & non-LAW** | Full non-LAW | 25 |
| Fall, 98+ days & LAW | Full LAW Fall | 32 |
| Spring, 98+ days & LAW | Full LAW Spring | 39 |
| Summer, any length | Summer | 5 |
*Short courses ending on the last day of finals follow "Full" timing.
**Non-LAW only.
Survey duration and reminders:
- Full courses: Open 19 days. Reminders on days 8, 15, and 19.
- All other courses: Open 14 days. Reminders on days 8 and 14.
Example: A 50-day course ("Middle") ending November 30 opens November 20 (Course End Date – 10). Reminders go out November 27 (day 8) and December 3 (day 14).
Resources and Information for Instructors
This section provides guidance to help instructors:
- Access Student Survey of Teaching results
- Navigate dashboards for reviewing results
- Monitor response rates
- Interpret survey data effectively
Resources and Information for Instructors
A given term's SST results will be released to instructors in the Qualtrics dashboard following the term's grade submission deadline.
The Student Surveys of Teaching (SST) dashboard for instructors is administered in Qualtrics. There are two ways to access it:
Option 1: Direct Link (only works for instructors who have been provisioned access)
Use this direct link: https://kusurvey.yul1.qualtrics.com/reporting-dashboard/web/61505c925dd70300175de61c/pages/Page_30d38527-5dee-4e42-b62f-7745e6ff6a49/view
Option 2: Through Your Qualtrics Account (must have an existing account)
- Go to http://survey.ku.edu and log in with your KU Single Sign On credentials.
- If you already have an account, you’ll land on your Qualtrics home screen.
- Once logged in, find the project “KU Student Surveys of Teaching” under Projects and Programs and click to open the dashboard.
Note: If prompted, select “No, I don’t have a preexisting account here” — an account will be created automatically.
If you cannot access the Instructor Dashboard using the direct link or by navigating through your Qualtrics account, contact AIRE at aire-help@ku.edufor support.
The dashboard includes three pages:
- Surveys: The SST results for your courses
- Response Rates: Real-time response rates (visible after the first survey submission)
- Trend Report: Term-by-term comparison of each survey question result.
Starting Spring 2026:
A new set of these three tabs reflects data from the updated SST instrument. Previous data remains under tabs labeled “Archive.”
By default, feedback pages display all available data. Use filters at the top of the page to narrow results by term or course.
Tracking Response Rates
- Real-time response rates appear on the Response Rates tab, but only after the first survey for a course is submitted.
- Check your response rates anytime during the survey period: Click here for your response rates page.
- For survey distribution timing, see the SST Distribution Schedule
Improving Response Rates
Low response rates are a challenge we can address together. Here are steps you can take:
- Direct students to the survey link:
- In their KU email (subject: Student Surveys of Teaching)
- In Canvas under Account → Course Evaluations
- Note: Instructors cannot embed SST survey links directly in their Canvas courses. The links above are the only official access points for students.
- For In-Person Classes:
- Announce that you’ll reserve time in an upcoming class for students to complete the survey and leave the room during that time.
- Recognize that some students may not have a device; ask them to email you in advance for alternatives.
- For Online Classes:
- Include reminders in videos, assignment lists, announcements, and other communications.
The Center for Teaching Excellence has created resources for interpreting and using survey results for reflection and evaluation. The CTE site also has materials for incorporating the results into a broader framework for evaluating teaching.
Evaluating Teaching | Center for Teaching Excellence (ku.edu)
You can download SST dashboard pages in multiple formats or share your dashboard via email. Below is an overview of available formats and instructions for exporting results.
Download Formats
- PDF and JPG: Automatically expand all comment boxes so all available comments are included in the file.
- CSV: Opens in Excel and includes all results from the selected dashboard page, based on applied filters.
Starting Spring 2026:
Exports from the new dashboard tab set will include data from the updated SST instrument. Historical tabs remain available for pre-Spring 2026 data.
For full documentation, visit the Qualtrics website.
How to Dashboard
Click the Export button in the top right corner of the dashboard to download entire pages in your preferred format.
Alternatively, you can export individual dashboard widgets with the export button in the top right of each widget.
Email Dashboard
Email Dashboard allows you to email static versions of your dashboards to individuals with or without a Qualtrics account. These emails contain the version of your dashboard at the time the email sends. Click the Export button in the top right, and select Email Dashboard.
Choose who to send this email to. If you click the To field, you can choose from a list of users or Roles who have access to the dashboard, or select New Email(s) to add other email addresses to send to.
Attention: When a dashboard is emailed to an existing user or role, the dashboard data will reflect the permissions of the recipient. When a dashboard is emailed to a new email without access to the dashboard, the dashboard data will reflect the permissions of the sender.
Enter a desired Subject and optional message.
Determine if you want to Attach report and include a PDF of the page (or other file format), or if you want to just Include widgets in email body, which will include the widgets as JPG images in the body.
If Include currently applied filters is selected, the filters you are adjusting in the dashboards will be applied to the emailed data. If deselected, the data will export with whatever default filters are applied. Default filters are filters that are applied by dashboard Admins when editing the dashboard, and they are automatically applied for all dashboard users.
If you want to test the email, click Send me a test email. This will only send the email to the address associated with your account. Then, click Send Email or Schedule Email.
Unit leaders have access to a Qualtrics dashboard with survey results for their unit. Unit leaders include deans, department chairs, and program directors who have supervisory responsibility for instructors.
CTE Video: Dashboard and Data Workshop
All instructors would benefit from watching this video by KU's Center for Teaching Excellence as a starting point. Please note that this video features an older version of the dashboard. While the navigation is the same, the look and feel is slightly different to the current dashboard.