Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) was ready for a change. Technology that felt archaic and hours of manual processing no longer produced the kind of qualitative feedback ILR faculty needed from students regarding the most appreciated elements of their courses or how their teaching could be improved.

Dan Elswit, the ILR Director for Administrative Applications, described four problems driving the school to explore a new approach called Student Evaluations of Teaching, or SETs.

First, the school needed to replace an old and fragile system that had been managed, in part, by a retiree for the previous six years. They also wanted modern reporting processes and capabilities the existing solution could not provide.

Faculty and administrators in ILR also recognized the need to use research-based questions to achieve more unbiased feedback. However, the difficulty of adding special questions during the pandemic semesters demonstrated the complexity of making significant content changes in their solution. And finally, they hoped to join other schools and colleges in a more consistent user experience across the campus.

In January 2025, the ILR School became one of the first three adopters of the new SETs at Cornell.

Surprisingly Successful Outcomes

“Regarding the consistent user experience, we believed that—even if individual units ultimately had some different questions than ours—at least the student experience should be the same,” said Elswit. “I think one of the reasons this new SETs is showing success is its common experience; we wanted a consistent experience across campus.”

In addition to a consistent experience inside the evaluation tool, the new SETs addressed two other issues: limited access options and arduous communication processes.

Elswit appreciates the multiple avenues to access the SETs evaluations. Previously, they only had web links. Now the evaluations are also connected to Canvas and linked to QR codes, a barcode shortcut today’s students often use in daily activities.

But streamlined communications was the feature that most surprised Elswit. He said, “We really appreciate the project team automating the communications, even though we did not believe them initially. We were very uneasy about the idea that they were going to manage all the communication with the students and the faculty. We were like, ‘Oh, yeah, I'm sure that's going to happen.’ But honestly, they did a great job with all the communications and reminders.”

His team was also relieved of the handling student requests for assistance with the evaluations. The project team set up and managed the first line of technical support work for students through a common ticketing system that could escalate a problem to the ILR Registrar as needed.

Elswit said, “We did address some questions that got escalated, things that were ILR-specific. But the overall communications and technical support worked really well. We were impressed. And in another area of savings, we decommissioned two servers we’d been paying for: a Media3-hosted web server and an old database server.”

Setting Expectations

Based on their first semester using the SETs system and processes, Elswit said he thinks Cornell students who have not yet completed evaluations in the new solution will appreciate the changes.

“The user experience is awesome, and we really like the environment,” he said. “And I think students will also like the different ways to get into their evaluation: integrated with Canvas and QR codes. Our faculty were able to share QR codes in their last lessons.”

Among the faculty and administration in ILR, expectations remain high. Elswit said their Registrar team is really excited about the new questions and technology.

“And I think our dean, Alex Colvin, is excited as well. He has been really pushing for this and has encouraged the faculty, helping them adopt this system,” concluded Elswit.

More Information about SETs

The executive sponsor for the new SETs implementation is Vice Provost for Academic Innovation Steven J. Jackson and the project team is led by Cornell IT Project Manager Michelle Jackson and SETs Central Administrator Adara Alston. Additional details can be found on the SETs overview page and specific inquiries can be submitted through the SETs Support Request form.

For more information on coordinating the insights and goals of partners, stakeholders, and project team members, read the IT News article titled, "How to Communicate and Collaborate for a Successful Project."