The evaluation of distance education courses at the FernUniversitat was an important focus of interest during the initial stages of its development (1974-1980), when courses were being developed for five major departments and the number of students enrolled was increasing rapidly. Since teaching began immediately, a formative evaluation approach was adopted. In the beginning, evaluations of courses were conducted using two instruments--standardized questionnaires, which were adapted for processing by optical scanners in 1976, and a form for student critiques of the course materials (the "course critic"). Since 1980 there has been a growing tendency away from the use of the standardized questionnaires since they do not provide the in-depth formative data required by course developers for making revisions. Prior to 1986, the course critic was typically administered to a sample of five to eight volunteers enrolled in a course. Pilot tests were also conducted for a period of three years using a tape-recorded version of the instrument, but processing the data proved to be too formidable a task for course developers. Since then, the written course critic has been standardized, and all of the students enrolled in a course are invited to respond; however, the number of students who do so is low. Course evaluation has slowed down in recent years as the responsibility for the evaluations has shifted from social researchers, for whom the evaluations were their main field of work, to the subject specialists, for many of whom the evaluations are a low priority as they are experienced authors and feel that their study materials are well prepared. (GL)