1. Instructors may add their own questions to a course or courses (see Instructor Guide). Only the instructor will see the results for those questions.
  2. Unless otherwise stipulated, the standard SOI form will be used for all courses. If a college, department, or program needs to add any further questions, they must submit those questions in writing to Dr. Michael Black at soi [at] valdosta.edu no later than mid-point of the term in which those questions will be used.
  3. All courses with 3 or more students will have SOIs including directed studies. Courses with 0 credit hours are excluded. Results will not be released to the instructor unless a minimum of 3 respondents respond in each section. Students who withdraw or drop a course will also be sent invitations to complete the Dropped Course Survey.
  4. For each full term, online SOIs will generally be available approximately two weeks (14 days) before the course end date of that term. For parts-of-term classes and summer courses, online SOIs will generally be available one week (7 days) before the course end date of the term. Automated email messages will be sent to both faculty and students when the SOI “window” has opened.
  5. Before final grade submission, instructors will not be able to see any responses, but they can see the percentage of students who have or have not completed their SOIs by logging into   They will not be able to see student names, but the automated system may send a reminder email to those who have yet to complete their SOIs. 
  6. During regular terms, students who have not completed SOIs by the end of the first week will receive an automated email message to their VSU email address reminding them to complete them. If still not completed at the end of the second week, a second automated reminder will be sent. Instructors can also send reminder emails using the SmartEvals platform to students who have not submitted (see Instructor Guide).
  7. During regular terms, SOI availability will end at midnight on the first day of the scheduled exam period (before exams begin). For other parts of term, SOI availability will end at midnight on the last scheduled day of class (before the last class day).
  8. No deviations from the scheduled opening and closing of the SOI "window" will be permitted unless a request is forwarded from a faculty member to the department head to the dean and finally to Academic Affairs (soi [at] valdosta.edu).
  9. Current SOI data will generally be available for faculty approximately three days after final grades are submitted.
  10. New Feature in SmartEvals. To increase response rates for course SOIs, SmartEvals, the vendor VSU uses to administer SOIs, has added a new text message feature. VSU will pilot this feature in spring 2024. Four days prior to the end of the survey period, students with cell phone numbers on record will receive one text message with a link to complete available surveys. The text message is in addition to the normal email requests. Students will not receive a text if they have already answered all surveys. If students inquire about the text message, please inform them that the messages are from an authorized sender, SmartEvals.