Sending Course Evaluations (manual)

Create a Survey

Surveys are being created in Qualtrics for course evaluations. Course evaluations are intended to be sent to all students in each class. In order to get the most comprehensive data and reporting capabilities out of surveys, it is recommended to work closely with IS&T.

For more information about access and Qualtrics training contact IS&T

First: Things to keep in mind

• What data can be used to see trends and comparisons?

  • Of course, knowing how each class is doing is the main objective, but over time patterns may emerge. Some examples:

    • Overall, how are classes doing in a certain subject, term, length of class time, time of day, etc.

    • Do students rate online or in-person classes higher?

    • How are classes rated that are taught by a certain instructor?

    • Does a class have better feedback in Fall or Spring?

  • Consult with IS&T to facilitate collecting data that will make reporting on this survey adaptable.

• Since we are all members of CECE, keeping some questions consistent with other units can help maintain continuity.

  • This helps leadership see overall trends for CECE as a whole

  • This also helps students see clear consistency as a class survey coming from CECE

• Customization means less information students need to fill out.

  • By addressing students by name, asking them to fill out a survey for the specific class they took, and showing the instructor of the class on the survey is a sign of professionalism on the part of CECE. They know we have that information. Asking them to fill it out on the survey is like asking them to tell us what we already know. It also cuts down on the number of questions they have to answer.

• The shorter the survey, the more likely it will be completed.

  • Every time we turn around we are being asked to fill out a survey. This has lead to survey fatigue. The best chance of getting feedback is keeping the survey short and minimizing the number of text fields the participant has to fill out. As much as they may have liked the class, they will, most likely, not want to write a book about it.

  • Ask yourself if this is a survey you would fill out.

• Keep questions clear and succinct.

  • Only ask one topic per question. For example:

    • Was the instructor organized and prepared? This question is asking two things. Maybe the instructor was only organized and not prepared.

Lifelong Course Evaluations

Surveys in Qualtrics are:

1. LL - Instructor Class Eval

   1. Data fields embedded in survey: Instructor Name, Class Title

2. LL - Student Course Eval

   1. Data field embedded in survey: Class Title, Instructor Name

Create a Contact List

Each survey will need at least one contact list. One survey can be sent to multiple contact lists. Lists of students base on certain criteria can be obtained from Marketing. However, if the survey is going to have reports associated with it, it is best to work with IS&T to get a contact list with comprehensive data.

Lifelong Course Evals Contact Lists

1. Students taking classes - Life_Students_DailySurvey-<date>.csv

   1. IS&T has scheduled a .csv file to be put in Lifelong Learning’s box folder called: CE-Reports → Life_Students_DailySurvey-<date>.csv

      1. This file will contain all students (and comprehensive reporting data) who have taken a class than will end the following day.

      2. Fields: CRSE_ID, EMPLID, STRM (term), CLASS_NBR, CLASS_SECTION, SUBJECT, COURSE_TITLE, CATALOG_NBR, LAST_NAME (student’s), FIRST_NAME (student’s), EMAIL, LOCATION, DESCR (Building Description), ROOM (Room in building), INSTR_NAME, INSTRUCTOR_EMPLID NOTE! Do not change the names of the fields (column headers) in the file.

2. Instructors teaching classes - Life_Instructors_DailySurvey-<date>.csv

   1. IS&T has scheduled a .csv file to be put in Lifelong Learning’s box folder called: CE-Reports → Life_Instructors_DailySurvey-<date>.csv

      1. This file will contain all instructors (and comprehensive reporting data) who have taught a class than will end the following day.

      2. Fields: STRM (term), SUBJECT, CATALOG_NBR, COURSE_TITLE, END_DT, EMAIL, LOCATION, INSTR_NAME, INSTRUCTOR_EMPLID NOTE! Do not change the names of the fields (column headers) in the file.

Add a new Contact List

1. In the upper right-hand corner of Qualtrics, choose CONTACTS and Create Contact List

   

2. Name the list and choose the folder you want it to be in. (It’s a good idea to stick to a naming convention, such as student-06122020 (date), so that you can find these lists, if needed)

   

3. Click on Import from a File and then Browse.

   

4. Navigate to the file in box and open it NOTE! If the file is empty, nothing will happen. Make sure there are contacts in the file before uploading into Qualtrics.

   

5. Contacts will appear in list. Click on Add Contacts

   

6. In the upper right-hand corner you will be able to see that the contacts are loading and it’s done when it reaches %100. You can view the emails in the list by clicking on View Contact List.

   

7. Contact list will look like this. Only email will show here.

   

8. Lists will show here in the folder you chose to put the list in.

   

Send Email

Email is customized to the student and the first question of the survey is embedded in the email. The email messages are saved, with all the customized data fields, in the Qualtrics Library.

Distribute Email

1. Open the survey you want to send out and choose the Distributions Menu

   

2. In the distribution section, Choose Emails in the left-hand menu and click on the Compose Email button in upper right-hand corner

   

3. A Compose Email box will come up. There are several things to do here:

   1. TO: Choose the list you want to send to. This will be in the folder you saved the list to and you will want to select Send to Entire Contact List.

      

   2. FROM: Leave the FROM ADDRESS as noreply@qemailserver.com, Change the FROM NAME to your unit and the REPLY TO EMAIL to your unit’s email.

   3. WHEN: Choose when you want the email to be sent

   4. SUBJECT: Email subject goes here. Recommendation is to customize the subject so it doesn’t look like spam. For example:

      1. Lifelong Learning Course Evaluation for ${e://Field/COURSE_TITLE_LONG} This variable will select the course title from your contact list

   5. MESSAGE: Choose the pre-written email message from the library. This has all the customized variables and the first question from the survey.

      

4. Send the email. You can either send a preview of the email to yourself. The preview will not populate the customized fields. Or actually send the email to your contact list.

5. Back in the Distributions area you will see a list of the emails you sent. This is where you can schedule reminder emails for those who have not filled out the survey.