by Ashley Biviano
Let’s be honest: switching vendors during the academic year can feel like trying to change a tire on a moving car. There’s grading, advising, meetings, deadlines, and the occasional email at 11:59 p.m. marked “urgent.” The thought of onboarding a new course evaluation system in the thick of it all? It’s enough to make even the most seasoned administrator sigh and say, “Maybe next year.”
But here’s the thing: summer is your secret weapon.
It’s a stretch of quiet before the storm, when inboxes breathe a little easier and projects that got pushed aside during the year can finally rise to the surface. And if you’ve been frustrated with your current evaluation tool—if it’s clunky, outdated, confusing, or simply doesn’t reflect the voice of your campus—then this season is the perfect time to rethink your approach.
So, why SmartEvals?
At SmartEvals, we’re not just a tool. We’re a team of humans who care deeply about higher ed, about making evaluations meaningful, and about removing the stress from the entire process—start to finish. We work with colleges and universities nationwide, helping institutions create surveys that are student-friendly, actionable, and easy to understand (for everyone from faculty to IR).
Summer gives us the runway we need to onboard you properly, customize your setup, train your staff, and even help you improve your survey questions—so that come fall, you’re not just ready. You’re relieved.
Here’s what summer switching looks like with us:
- A dedicated onboarding team (real people, not a chat bot)
- Help crafting or revising your evaluation questions
- Data imports and system setup without the panic
- Faculty training and opt-in workshops
- Student engagement strategies that actually work
And if you’re switching from another vendor? We’ve done this before. A lot. We’ll make the transition smooth—and even enjoyable.
A good system doesn’t just collect data. It changes what people do with it.
If you’ve ever read an evaluation summary and thought, this isn’t useful, or students clearly didn’t take this seriously, that’s a problem worth solving. We help schools ask better questions, engage students more effectively, and deliver results that actually drive teaching improvement.
Summer is a rare moment to reset the system. Let’s use it well.
Want to talk about what switching would look like for your school? We’re here. And we’ll never rush you. We can onboard your school year-round with absolute ease.
Email us today at ashley@smartevals.com or ronald@smartevals.com.
