What is CTE? The Course and Teaching Evaluation (CTE) system collects student feedback on teaching and learning at CUHK(SZ). The CTE questionnaire has slightly different items for jointly-taught subjects and lab classes to suit the contexts and learning objectives of the respective courses. This exercise usually takes place in the last two weeks of the semester. However, for jointly- taught subjects, the practice may take place when the teaching of the particular teacher comes to an end. 

To improve the efficiency in collecting student feedback, CUHK(SZ) has moved from paper-based CTE to electronic CTE (OCTE) since 2020. The primary purposes are to:

• Give students more flexibility in when and where they can complete the OCTE forms;

• Allow students more time for thoughtful comments;

• Save resources and valuable class contact time; 

• Help save the environment by cutting down paper consumption. 

CUHK(SZ) values good teaching. We cherish the promotion of meaningful and relevant learning for our students and believe that teachers and students have a shared responsibility for enhancing learning. Your feedback via CTE will provide valuable information for us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our existing curriculum and teaching practice, and help us improve the quality of teaching at CUHK(SZ). In so doing, it will also help you learn better. 

The CTE forms completed by students are processed, analysed and reported by the Registry, not by the teachers concerned. The results are presented in the form of a report that contains a summary of the mean ratings of the close-ended questions and the written comments from the open-ended questions complied as a list without any student identification. The CTE reports will only be released to your teachers after the overall assessment results are finalised. 

The CTE reports will be sent to the individual teachers and the School Deans. Summaries of the CTE results of individual Schools will also be made available to Deans and Vice Presidents (Academic) to ensure the quality of teaching and learning of Schools and programmes. 

The CTE data collected can be used in a number of ways for enhancing the quality of teaching and learning at CUHK(SZ), as follows:

• Individual teachers can use your feedback to review, reflect on, and make appropriate changes and modifications to their teaching to improve student learning.

• The CTE results will be one source of evidence used to appraise the teaching quality of teachers and programmes. They are also used for teachers' annual appraisal, award nomination and promotion purposes.

• Deans and Vice Presidents can also use the data to assure and enhance the quality of teaching of the School and the University as a whole. 

The CTE system will not be effective without your support. You can help enhance the quality of teaching and learning at CUHK(SZ) by giving us thoughtful feedback on your studying experience and providing constructive comments and suggestions on how your learning can be further enhanced. When you provide your feedback, try to think more in terms of the extent to which the teaching has helped you to achieve the following and how it can be further improved to help you learn more to:

• Develop an accurate understanding of the essential concepts and theories of the discipline.

• Acquire important skills and be able to apply them to solve professional or real-life problems.

• Develop competence in key generic skills such as communication and presentation skills, critical and creative thinking, leadership and teamwork, etc.

• Become a more independent learner, and develop the attitude and skills needed for lifelong learning.

Although you need to log in to the OCTE system using your student ID to complete the OCTE, confidentiality and anonymity are promised in the following ways:

1. Access to raw data is restricted to the Registry only, which is responsible for processing and analysing the data and reporting the CTE results. Schools /teachers concerned do not have any access to any individual student's responses.  

2. The CTE results will only be released to your teachers after the School Assessment Panel finalises the exam results.

3. Your teachers will receive a report containing only the class-average ratings, not the individual ratings by students.

4. Written comments are compiled into a list without student identification.

5. The University adheres strictly to the confidentiality and anonymity of student participation in the CTE exercise because it is standard academic practice. More importantly, we want to maintain an environment where students can provide unbiased, thoughtful and helpful feedback for improving teaching and learning. Therefore, be assured that your participation and feedback are confidential and anonymous to your teachers and will not affect your assessment grades. 

The OCTE system uses student IDs for authentication purposes to ensure data integrity – that is, we need to make sure that: • only those students who are eligible to do the OCTE can access the OCTE forms; • each eligible student does not submit the same OCTE form more than once. All these are essential for an accurate and fair evaluation. Although you need to log in to the OCTE system using your student ID, please be assured that the CTE results presented to your teachers are not tied to any student identification or information. The teachers do not have any access to any student's individual responses. 

OCTE is one of the many channels at CUHK(SZ) for you to provide feedback on teaching and learning at the end of a semester. However, you can also use other channels to voice your opinions and concerns about teaching whenever needed. Such channels include:

• The Early Teaching Feedback System (ETFS) in the university Portal. Your opinion can reach the teacher’s email box directly and anonymously.

• Informal meetings and discussions with your teachers;

• Talk to your class representatives, if any;

• Discussion with your Programme Leader or Academic Advisor.

Once submitted, you can't revise your responses as each OCTE form can be submitted only once. 

Send an email to  clear@cuhk.edu.cn with the following information:

• Your student ID

• Information on your faulty submission

o Subject code, subject name and staff name of the OCTE

o Details of your faulty submission (e.g., mistaken the rating "1" as "strongly agree") 

The CLEAR team will follow up on your submission upon receiving your email and contact you about any arrangement made. 

Helpline of ITSO at 84273333.