- When do surveys run?
- Can I give incentives for completion? Can I ask for proof?
- How do I access my response rates while surveys are running?
- When will my results be available?
- How do I access my results after surveys are completed?
- Who can see what results?
- How does my instructor access my TAOS responses?
- What notifications will I receive/ how will students be notified about surveys?
- How many surveys are administered?
- Why did you add the TAOS?
- Where can I access historical information?
- Who can I contact about additional questions or suggestions?
1. When do surveys run?
TAOS is scheduled during a course's corresponding CIOS survey period, and in fact students see both sets of survey questions together when they click on a survey for any particular course. For most courses, CIOS and TAOS will open beginning the Monday two weeks before finals and will run through midnight, Sunday after finals. For courses with non-standard schedules, CIOS and TAOS open during the last 1-3 weeks of the course, depending on course duration.
2. Can I give incentives for completion? Can I ask for proof?
While your instructor may allow you to give incentives and rewards for survey completion, please do not ask for proof of completion. You do have access to current overall completion rates through Digital Measures but cannot see individuals who have/have not responded. As the survey is voluntary and confidential, you should not ask students for any individual evidence of whether or not they completed your survey. Please note: all incentives or rewards must be given to you class as a whole, regardless of whether or not individual students complete the survey.
3. How do I access my response rates while surveys are running?
You can access overall response rate information from within the SmartEvals site. Simply hover over "Reports" in the gold menu bar at the top of the page and select "Response Rates".
While you may access response rates for your individual courses, you will not be able to access names of individual respondents nor which students did or did not respond.
4. When will my results be available?
SmartEvals will send you an e-mail via cioshelp@gatech.edu notifying you that your results are available. This email will include pdf attachments with your results for each course.
Generally, you may access your results online 5 days after grades are due to the registrar at the end of a term.
5. How do I access my results after surveys are complete?
All TAOS data is available through SmartEvals Instructions for accessing reports can be found in the SmartEvals Reporting Manual. Here are some basic instructions:
Login as usual with your GTaccount and password. To view the term each course was taught, click the blue hyperlink 'Change columns' to the upper right of the table, select the box 'Term' in the 2nd column, and click 'save' in the upper left above the table.
- To see the report for a single course, click the 'EvalCenter' link in the gold bar at the top of the page. (This is the default homepage when you log in.) Find the desired course in the table, and click the blue hyperlink 'Reports' in the rightmost column. You may see a video tutorial which you can skip or watch, and the system will display the report.
- To download the report in any of the available formats (Microsoft Excel, PDF, etc), click the green box with an X in it in the upper left corner of the table. You can then choose the file type from the drop down menu and click 'export' in the middle of the next page. Then, either open or save the report, as desired.
6. Who can see what results?
| Reporting access by role | CIOS Scaled Results | CIOS Comments | TA’s Scaled Results | TA’s Comments |
| Instructor | Their Own | Their Own | All within their own course | All within their own course |
| TA Supervisor | N/A | N/A | All within their own course | All within their own course |
| Teaching Assistant | None | None | Their Own | Their Own |
| School Chair | All within their own unit | None | All within their own unit | All within their own unit |
| Students | All – Summary only | None | None | None |
7. How does my instructor access my TAOS responses?
Your instructor can access your TAOS results when they are logged into the SmartEvals system.
8. What notifications will I receive/ how will students be notified about surveys?
Instructors will receive emails from cioshelp@gatech.edu regarding:
- When a survey period for one or more of their courses has begun
- Updates every few days displaying their response rates during the survey period
- When results are available
Students will receive automatic e-mails from SmartEvals containing a list of surveys to be completed on the day the survey opens, and every few days during the survey period until they have completed all of their surveys.
9. How many surveys are administered?
SmartEvals will list one survey per course within a survey period. As of summer 2014, TAOS and CIOS have been combined into one survey. There will be only one survey per course, with separate sections for each instructor and each TA. Response rates for that course are measured per course as a whole and not by teaching assistant.
10. Why did you add the TAOS?
The TAOS exists for four main reasons:
- To provide feedback to the departments and the Institute about Teaching Assistant effectiveness.
- To provide TAs with feedback that, in addition to other forms of feedback and in conjunction with development efforts, can be used to improve future performance of TAs both in and out of the classroom.
- To provide TAs with evidence of teaching effectiveness than can be used as part of their academic and non-academic job search process. To assist the Institute in complying with the University System of Georgia Board of Regents Policy 8.3.5.2 EVALUATION OF PERSONNEL: Graduate Teaching/Laboratory Assistants which states that:"institutions employing graduate teaching and/or laboratory assistants shall develop procedures to: conduct regular assessments, based on written procedures and including results of student and faculty evaluations, of each assistant's teaching effectiveness and performance."
11. Where can I access historical information?
Historical data regarding CIOS and TAOS changes, or to view the history of CIOS and TAOS changes, a summary of the changes made, and task force reports regarding the CIOS update or the TAOS pilot, please visit the CIOS and TAOS History page.
12. Who can I contact about additional questions or suggestions?
Helpdesk, troubleshooting:
Email: cioshelp@gatech.edu
Phone: 404-385-1292