The Course-Instructor Opinion Survey (CIOS) is designed to capture students’ perceptions of their learning experiences within the classroom.  The data is used by faculty and other Institute stakeholders to inform improvements in the teaching and learning process. Students are invited to participate in the CIOS at the end of each term.  

The CIOS provides feedback to:  

• Instructors to help them improve the teaching and learning process in their course(s). 
• Administrators: 
• To support decisions regarding teaching and learning. 
• As part of the promotion and tenure process. 
• Students to inform their course selection. 

The survey is deployed and managed by the Office of Academic Effectiveness. 

Key Considerations for Students

• Instructors do not have access to survey results until after grades are submitted and posted for the course. 
• If students need to change their responses, the CIOS Help team can reset the survey at any time before it closes. Include in your correspondence to CIOS Help, your account ID number, course number, and section.   
• Please address comments directly to the instructors. The comments that you provide are shared only with the instructor(s) teaching the course. Comments for TAs are shared with both the TA and their supervising instructor. 

View CIOS Survey Questions 

• CIOS Core Questions
• CIOS Teaching Assistant Questions

Who Gets Surveyed?

CIOS is designed to capture students’ perceptions of their learning experiences within the classroom.    

All courses will be surveyed unless they meet one or more exclusion criteria:

1. Size: Classes with enrollment below 5. This limitation is to maintain respondent confidentiality, and to improve the data quality of the reported ratings.
   • Enrollment is based on current enrollment as of the withdrawal deadline for the semester
   • Cross-listed courses will use the combined enrollment for surveyability purposes. If the total enrollment of the cross-listed section meets criteria, all of the sections will be surveyed.


2. Course Subject: Several subject codes in the catalog are used to maintain enrollment hours while students are engaged in non-course activities, such as work or study abroad.
   • COOP (Co-op Work Assignment)
   • FS   (Foreign Studies)
   • INTN  (Internship; Professional Internship)
   • IPCO / IPFS / IPIN / IPSA  (Co-op, Foreign Studies, Internships, etc. for International Plan)
   • UCGA  (Cross-Enrollment with other GA institutions: Emory, Ga State, Morehouse, Kennesaw, etc).


3. Research Hours:
   • Research Assistanceship and Research Hours (X694, X695, X696, X697, X698, X699, X997, X998, X999)
   • Thesis / Dissertation hours (7000 / 9000)

Midterm Surveys

• Learn more about Midterm Surveys here

CIOS History   

• Learn more about the history of CIOS here

For more information about the CIOS, contact the Office of Academic Effectiveness – CIOS Help at cioshelp@gatech.edu.