Student FAQs
General CIF Blue FAQs
- Do I need to be on the VPN to complete a survey?
- Who will administer the CIF Blue system?
- How will I know when I have a survey ready to be completed online?
- Why aren’t all my courses included in the CIF Blue system?
- Will my responses be kept confidential?
- Why should I complete the CIF Blue survey?
- What if I make a mistake on a CIF Blue survey?
- Why are some of the same questions on all of my CIF Blue surveys?
- Who uses the CIF Blue results and for what purpose?
- Which questions provide the data that will be shown in Course Insights?
- How is my feedback shown in Course Insights?
Problem Resolution FAQs
- I dropped the course but the CIF Blue system says I need to complete a survey.
- I do not believe that I should have to do a CIF Blue survey for a specific course.
- I need the CIF Blue survey reopened for a course.
- A course is missing from my CIF Blue task list.
Learning Goals FAQs
- What is the difference between Learning Goals within CIF Blue and Learning Objectives for a course?
- Why does CIF Blue include questions about my progress toward Learning Goals?
- Shouldn’t the Learning Goals for a course be communicated to students on day one?
If you have any questions that are not covered in this document, please send your questions to cifblue@nd.edu.
General CIF Blue FAQs
Do I need to be on the VPN to complete a survey?
No. The CIF Blue system requires you to authenticate via OKTA, so you should not need to be on the VPN to complete a survey.
Who will administer the CIF Blue system?
Institutional Research, Innovation, & Strategy (IRIS) in partnership with the Office of the Provost administers CIF Blue, an online course evaluation tool.
How will I know when I have a survey ready to be completed online?
Students will receive an email the day a survey opens or closes, along with email reminders three-days after the survey has opened, at the mid-point, and three-days before the survey closes during the survey window.
Why aren't all my courses included in the CIF Blue system?
Department chairs designate the courses that should receive CIF Blue surveys, so it is possible that some courses will not be included.
If you feel a course should be in your CIF Blue task list and it isn’t, email cifblue@nd.edu, listing the course and section number (e.g., ANTH 10010-02), the instructor name and your NetID.
Will my responses be kept confidential?
The University is fully committed to protecting the confidentiality of students’ responses. Reporting is all in aggregate form. Instructor reports do not show any demographic information about students.
Why should I complete a CIF Blue survey?
The purpose of the CIF Blue system is to help improve teaching so as to enhance students’ learning experiences. Your confidential feedback through the CIF Blue survey provides:
- Student Ratings that you and your classmates will be able to view for courses listed within Course Insights
- Constructive comments to your instructors on how they might improve their courses in future terms
- Candid assessments of teaching effectiveness that are an essential component to the review and promotion process for each of your professors
Why are some of the same questions on all my CIF Blue surveys?
The CIF Blue survey is composed of several tiers of questions—University, College, Department, Learning Goals and Instructor tiers. All CIFs will contain the University tier questions, all surveys from a given department will contain the department questions and so on. Even though you have answered these questions in other surveys, it is important to consider each in regard to the specific course and instructor being surveyed.
Who uses the CIF Blue results and for what purpose?
The purpose of the CIF Blue system is to help improve teaching so as to enhance students’ learning experiences. Your confidential feedback through the CIF Blue survey provides:
- Student Ratings that you and your classmates will be able to view for courses listed within Course Insights
- Constructive comments to your instructors on how they might improve their courses in future terms
- Candid assessments of teaching effectiveness that are an essential component to the review and promotion process for each of your professors
Which questions provide the data that will be shown in Course Insights?
To provide students with more comprehensive descriptions of courses taught at Notre Dame, students are asked to respond to five questions at the same time they complete the CIF Blue survey for an instructor and course.
- The instructor was respectful of students and their points of view.
- The instructor was accessible to students outside class time.
- The instructor effectively promoted my learning in this area.
- The assignments and activities of this course effectively promoted my learning in this area.
- I felt engaged in this course.
How is my feedback shown in Course Insights?
For each of the five items, a bar graph shows the average percentage distribution of responses for the particular instructor-course combination for all times that it was included in CIF Blue within the past six semesters, not including summer sessions. The average response rate, total number of sections included, and total valid number of responses are also shown. An example is shown below. Results are in Course Insights year-round.
Problem Resolution FAQs
I dropped the course but the CIF Blue system says I need to complete a survey
Verify with the Registrar’s Office that you have officially been dropped from the course and ask the Registrar’s Office to notify us at cifblue@nd.eduso that the course can be dropped from your CIF Blue task list. A course can only be dropped from your task list if the Registrar’s Office notifies us that you have officially dropped the course.
I do not believe that I should have to do a CIF Blue survey for specific course.
Department chairs designate the courses that should receive CIF Blue surveys, so every course in the list is one for which the department desires feedback. The University values the feedback from all students regardless of the course’s grading method or number of credits, or the student’s enrollment status. Therefore, even if you are auditing a course, taking it pass/fail, or it is a lab, a discussion class or a one credit course, it is important that you complete all of the surveys listed.
I need the CIF Blue survey reopened for a course.
It is not possible to reopen a CIF Blue feedback period after it closes.
A course is missing from my CIF Blue task list.
Immediately email cifblue@nd.edu, listing the course and section number (e.g., ANTH 10010-02), the instructor name and your NetID. We will verify the course/instructor has been designated to receive feedback, the CIF Blue feedback period open and close dates, and whether you are listed as officially enrolled in the course and then inform you of our findings.
If the course’s department has decided that the course/instructor will not receive feedback for the current semester, you will not be expected to complete a CIF Blue survey for the course/instructor.
If the CIF Blue feedback period has closed and, therefore, is not visible on your task list, you will not be able to complete a CIF Blue survey
for the course/instructor.
If the CIF Blue feedback period has not opened yet, we will inform you when the feedback period will open and when it will close.
If the course/instructor is scheduled to receive feedback this semester and the feedback period is open, but you are not listed as officially enrolled in the class, we will inform you to contact the Registrar’s Office to officially enroll in the class.
Learning Goals FAQs
What is the difference between Learning Goals within CIF Blue and Learning Objectives for a course?
Learning goals express the far-reaching skills and perspectives a student aims to acquire while studying at Notre Dame where the learning objectives for a course may express the specific knowledge the student should acquire from that course. A learning goal is intentionally broader than a learning objective. CIF Blue is addressing students’ progress towards learning goals that are far-reaching, extensive and transferable to various contexts.
| Example of a Learning Objective from a course on American Drama | Corresponding CIF Learning Goal |
| Students will be able to explain the theoretical bases of various dramatic genres and illustrate them with examples from plays of different eras. | Place ideas, theories, principles, etc. in their cultural and historical contexts |
Two courses with very different learning objectives may help students progress towards a common overarching learning goal. CIF Blue has the flexibility to present students with feedback forms that reflect the learning goals identified by the instructor or department.
Why does CIF Blue include questions about my progress toward Learning Goals?
Rather than asking students about their learning in a single global item, CIF Blue invites students to report their perceived progress in specific dimensions of learning that are judged by the instructor or department to be among the most relevant for a given course. This provides instructors with specific feedback about where students report making the greatest learning gains in the course.
Shouldn't the Learning Goals for a course be communicated to students on day one?
Students do benefit from knowing the learning objectives for a course early in the semester but even if the far-reaching learning goals have not been specified, students should still be able to reflect on their progress towards them after completing the course.