Student Course Feedback is designed to gather meaningful insight into student learning experiences while protecting the confidentiality of student respondents. The practices described on this page explain how feedback results are handled and shared at the University of Utah.
This page provides a general description of reporting practices and privacy protections. It does not replace or supersede university policy. Official policy governing Student Course Feedback can be found on the Policies & Governance page.
Confidentiality of Student Responses
Student responses to Student Course Feedback surveys are confidential.
Individual student identities are not included in feedback reports shared with instructors or administrators. Feedback is only released after final grades have been submitted and processed.
Students are encouraged to provide constructive comments that focus on their learning experience in the course.
Reporting Practices
Student Course Feedback results are presented using standardized reporting templates designed to support appropriate interpretation of results while protecting respondent confidentiality.
Reporting practices may include:
- Aggregating responses across students in the same section
- Limiting access to reports based on role and purpose
- Releasing reports only after grades have been submitted
These practices reduce the risk that individual students could be identified from survey responses.
Low-Enrollment Courses
When course enrollment is very small, reporting practices may be adjusted to protect student confidentiality and reduce the risk of re-identification.
Under current practice, courses with five or fewer enrolled students are treated as low-enrollment courses. In these cases, survey results are not released directly through standard reporting interfaces.
Instead, results are made available through role-based access to authorized academic leaders and designated staff. These individuals may review the results and determine whether and how the information should be shared with the instructor.
This approach helps protect student confidentiality in small classes while allowing appropriate academic leaders to consider the feedback in context.
Reporting practices for low-enrollment courses are periodically reviewed through university governance processes.
If you have questions about accessing or sharing feedback from low-enrollment courses, please contact the Student Course Feedback team at scf@utah.edu.
Role-Based Access to Results
Access to Student Course Feedback results is limited based on university role and reporting purpose.
Typical access patterns include:
- Instructors have access to feedback for their own courses.
- Department and college administrators have access to feedback within their administrative scope to support academic leadership, program oversight, and review processes.
- Authorized staff have access similar to department or college administrators to support unit operations
Access permissions are managed through university authentication and system permissions.
Responsible Use of Feedback
Student Course Feedback provides one perspective on the student learning experience and should be interpreted thoughtfully and in context.
Standardized reporting formats help ensure that feedback is presented consistently when used for instructional improvement or approved academic review processes.
Questions
If you have questions about confidentiality, reporting practices, or access permissions, please contact the Student Course Feedback team at scf@utah.edu.