Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why transition from paper to online SEOI administration?
   
   There are several reasons to switch from paper to online SEOIs including saving instructional time for administration, saving staff time in administering forms and typing student comments, protection of faculty privacy, and overall administrative effort and cost.
2. Is there a cost savings for the switch from paper to online?
   
   There is an anticipated cost savings of at least $25,000 when comparing staff, supply, and fee costs between online and paper administration methods.
3. Will paper be saved?
   
   CWU is using approximately 80,000 paper SEOIs a year. Each sheet goes through inter-campus mail three times. Thus, going online is environmentally friendly!
4. What is the basic process for online SEOIs administration?
   • Department staff will assign SEOI forms for each course section in their department (as per past practice – week 4 of quarter).
   • Faculty, Chairs, and Deans can collaborate to create up to 10 “custom questions” (week 6-7 of quarter).
   • Students are contacted via e-mail two weeks before the first day of finals (week 8 & 9 of quarter). An announcement e-mail and up to three reminder e-mails may be sent based on participation or lack thereof. Access is obtained through secure web-link in e-mail.
   • Faculty, Chairs, and Deans will have access to results/reports within two weeks after quarter completion.
5. Who is responsible for the SEOI process?
   
   The Office of Assessment (Dr. Tom Henderson) will be responsible for online SEOI administration. Questions, suggestions and support can be accessed from: HendersT@cwu.edu or 509-963-2046 or Barge 310M.
6. When will students complete SEOIs?
   
   Students will be able to access and complete SEOIs two weeks prior to Final Exam week.
7. How do faculty access EvaluationKIT?
   
   Faculty can log in to EvaluationKIT one of three ways.
   1. Wildcat Connection
      1st: login to Wildcat Connection
      2nd: you should see a link named “SEOIs” at the bottom of the left frame.  Just click on that link and you should be logged into the EvaluationKIT faculty dashboard.
   2. From inside BlackboardYou should find a link to EvaluationKIT in the Control Panel of all your Blackboard courses under Course Tools. If you don’t see a link to EvaluationKIT:
      • Go to the Control Panel under the left navigation bar for your course
      • Click on “Customization” and select “Tool Availability”
      • Check the box next to “EvaluationKIT Course Evaluations” to make it Available and click “Submit”
      • Now in the Control Panel under “Course Tools” you will see a link to “EvaluationKIT User Access”
   3. Faculty can log in directly from the Internet
      • Open a web browser and go to: http://cwu.evaluationkit.com
      • The first time you log in click “Forgot your password?”  EvaluationKIT will prompt you to enter your Novell username and the code you see on the screen and will then email you to set up a password.  Note this is not your CWU Novel password (see the example below).
8. What were some of the problems that faculty had logging in during the spring 2012 quarter?
   • The Internet Explorer browser seems to have problems with Blackboard and with the online SEOI system.  We suggest that you use Firefox to log in to this system.  Make sure that all cookies are enabled. 
   • We suggest that people using Mac Intosh computers log in via the Firefox browser with all cookies enabled.
   • Students who become staff receive new Novel User IDs at CWU.  A few graduate student teachers were trying to log in to EvaluationKIT with their new ID’s last quarter.  The SAFARI query we are using downloaded their old student User ID.  If you are a graduate student teacher try logging in with your old student User ID or call us and ask us to reset your User ID.
   • Chairs have two roles in EvaluationKIT.  Chairs should see a box toward the upper right of the screen (dashboard) that lets you select your role, either instructor or chair.
9. Will students respond/complete online SEOIs?
   
   Online administration has been successfully piloted for two years with face-to-face and online courses. Online SEOI response rates have varied from 40% to 92% (fall, 2011) between different departments. We have learned that departments with higher response rates have faculty that communicate and encourage students to complete the SEOIs.
10. Do students respond as well for online SEOIs as they do for paper?
    
    The average department response rate for paper administered SEOIs is around 85%. The average rate for online has varied between 40% and 92%. The greater the encouragement and reminder from faculty, the higher the response rate.
11. Will my ratings change because course evaluations go online?
    
    Studies have shown that there is no systematic bias between paper-based and online course evaluations. A few examples include:

• McGill University Study
• Chronicle of Higher Education referencing a study by the IDEA Center at Kansas State University
• Paper presented at the 2002 Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research
• Online Course Evaluation Literature Review

12. What will be done to encourage students to complete the online SEOIs?

The Office of Assessment will enhance student process knowledge and encourage student participation through:

1. Student e-mail invitations and reminders
2. Web and print media advertisement
3. CWU radio (88.1) advertisement
4. Blackboard (Pop-up messages)
5. Notice and encourage with various student groups (Board of Directors, etc.)
6. Faculty reminder to encourage students and data access showing individual class participation.

*Departments and individual faculty will also play an important role in encouraging students to complete the online SEOIs.

13. What SEOI forms are being used?
    
    SEOI forms will reflect those newly created by the SEOI taskforce and approved by Faculty Senate/Provost council in 2010-2011.
    
    • Form A 2010 - Lecture
    • Form C 2010 - Skills Aquisition
    • Form D 2010 - Laboratory
    • Form E 2010 - Visual and Performing Arts
    • Form W 2010 - Online
       
14. Can I still use the old SEOI forms?
    
    Although the SEOI forms will be new, the ability to create custom questions will allow faculty/chairs/deans to add past SEOI form questions or generate new ones as needed or where an interest exists. A staff person in each department will still have access to the former SEOI reports if you need them.
15. When can I access my class reports?
    
    Faculty will have access to individual course data while chairs and Deans will have access to individual and summary department and college data within two weeks after each term.
16. How do I access my class reports?
    
    Faculty will receive an e-mail with a link to a dashboard page showing individual course data.
17. What do the class reports look like?
    
    A sample class report can be accessed by clicking here. Reports may be able to be customized over time as based on recommendations from faculty and administration.
18. How do I see results from past quarters? Departmental SEOI staff will still have access to the legacy SEOI database. Your department's staff can download legacy reports for any past quarter you wish. Institutional Assessment will continue to maintain that database and provide support to departments.
19. Where can I view the SEOI Task Force final report?
    
    The final report of the SEOI Task Force included mock-ups of the five new SEOI forms along with a history and methodology. The report is at: SEOI Task Force Final Report.
20. How do online SEOIs work for team taught courses?
    
    Courses will be set up as team taught only if they are entered into SAFARI with both instructors. Online SEOIs can individualize responses to faculty in team taught courses. Each faculty receive responses individually on questions relating to “Student Learning Environment” and “Teaching for Student Learning” as well as a text question that asks “Please provide any additional comments about the course or instructor.” Students only answer “General information” questions once. Both faculty see those results.
21. How are responses to cross-listed courses managed?
    
    Responses to cross-listed course will be attributed to the correct department. Assume that students can take a course enrolled under department A or B. Responses from students enrolled in department A are used to compute that department’s average responses. Responses to department B are used to compute summary statistics for department B.
22. Will storage and retrieval of text responses improve?
    
    Text comments will be archived online saving storage for departments.
23. How are student rosters generated for the online SEOIs?
    
    Students enrolled in courses are downloaded from SAFARI around the 5th week of the term. We use a query developed by the SAFARI tem that excludes withdrawals (+W, W, HW, or NS) and also excludes students that have FERPA holds on their contact info.
24. Can faculty give students credit for completing the online SEOIs?
    
    The idea of giving credit confounds the possible objectiveness of the student. It is recommended that credit not be given.
25. How can faculty increase student response rates for online SEOIs?

One of the best methods to increase the response rate is to encourage students to respond.

• Another effective method is to tell students how you have used SEOI feedback to improve your teaching.
• It also helps to administer short surveys throughout your course (before SEOIs) and use the good suggestions.
• Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are great examples. See: http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/cat.html
• This web-site from the IDEA center lists some Best Practices for Getting Student Support.

26. What types of custom questions can be added to online SEOIs by faculty?
    
    Only faculty can see responses to custom questions that they added.
    
    You will notice when you log into EvaluationKIT there is a link (small blue letters) called “Tutorials” toward the upper right portion of the faculty dashboard. We recommend that you first watch the tutorial on how to add custom questions all the way through and then re-watch and pause the tutorial at each step of creating custom questions. In general you first create a separate survey and then link it to whichever SEOI that you wish.
    
    Ten custom questions can be added to each SEOI. Question types you can add include:
    
    Single selection (with radio buttons that only allow one response).
    1. What class activity helped your learning the most?

Multiple selection (check boxes that allow more than one response).
2. Which activities helped your learning in this course? Please check all that apply.

Matrix questions.
3. How strongly do you agree that the following learning outcomes were met in this course?

Numeric response.
4. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best) how would you rate this course?
             12345678

Open-ended text response (small, medium, or large box).
5. What was the muddiest point of this class?

27. Can faculty see which students have/have not completed online SEOIs in their courses?
    
    Yes, if five or more students have completed your SEOI. You will see four box-like tabs on your faculty dashboard. The lower right tab with the green heading gives your response rates in real time. To the right of each section listed you will see an option in blue letters named “Download” where you can download the respondents or non-respondents. You might use this feature to send reminder emails to students who have not responded to your SEOI.
28. How do online SEOIs work for team taught courses?
    
    Courses will be set up as team taught only if they are entered into SAFARI with both instructors. Online SEOIs can individualize responses to each faculty in team taught courses. Each faculty receive responses individually on questions relating to “Student Learning Environment” and “Teaching for Student Learning” as well as a text question that asks “Please provide any additional comments about the course or instructor.” Students only answer “General information” questions once. Both faculty see those results.
29. How do I add custom questions?
    
     Facutly and chairs can add custom questions and the instructions are located at the following Web page: https://www.cwu.edu/associate-provost/Custom-questions  
30. How to download SEOI reports

a. Log in to EvaluationKIT to see your dashboard  (click the link that says “SEOIs” at the bottom of the left frame in the Wildcat Connection).

b. Select the project that contains the report you want to print (which SEOI form and which term) under the “Project Results” heading in blue.

c. Click the “view” link under “Report.”  You can view reports with comments (PDF + text) or without comments (PDF).

d. You may get a message that says “generating PDF.” 

e. If you print several reports at once you may get a message telling you that you will get an email when the reports are ready.

If you have any suggestions or items to add or if you see any errors to this FAQ list please contact: Tom Henderson at: HendersT@cwu.edu, 509-963-2046, mailstop 98926-7517.

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