SIRS Information for Administrators

Verifying Course Information in DIG

OTEAR uses a survey tool hosted by eXplorance Blue, which works in two phases. In the “setup” phase, department administrators review and optionally alter survey information in DIG (Data Integrity Gateway), then “publish” the courses when done. Once published, DIG feeds this information directly into Blue where the Facutly and Student phase of the survey process begins.

Please refer to our procedures and dates for information about deadlines and the SIRS process.

Written instructions on how to use DIG can be found below, or video explanations on YouTube.


Click below to access PowerPoints which provide step-by-step instructions.

Use the following instructions on how to edit a single course’s information in DIG. Several departments have specific survey forms with additional questions

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You can also edit the information of multiple courses at once. For instance, if you wanted to change the survey dates of all 200 level courses. First, you want to use “Criteria” to limit the course list to the ones you want to edit.

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Once you have limited the course listing to the courses that you want to edit, you can complete a bulk edit.

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You can also Merge or Split courses in special circumstances (detailed in the directions).

Open “Splitting Surveys in DIG” presentation in a new tab

Open “Merging Surveys in DIG” presentation in a new tab

Midcourse Surveys in Blue

OTEAR provides an ability for department administrators to optionally run Midcourse Surveys centrally through the Blue survey system. These are a great formative tool to determine how students are feeling about the course and to alter or clarify aspects accordingly. Midcourse surveys are typically run in the 7th week of the course, and instructors receive the student feedback immediately after the survey ends.

To enable a midcourse survey, the department administrator will use the “DIG” survey setup process to turn on the option for any course. The option can be changed individually or in bulk for a large set of courses. Administrators can choose to send the survey results only to the instructor, or to both the instructor and the department.

The instructor will be notified a few days before the start of the survey that they may add questions in addition to the standard midcourse questions (see below). Students will complete the midcourse surveys at https://sirs.rutgers.edu/blue

Instructors can also choose to run a midcourse survey through other means, such as Google Forms or Canvas. This gives the instructor greater flexibility about the questions asked, and more options about when to run the survey. Information is available for other options to run midcourse survey on your own.

More Midcourse Survey resources are available on Canvas (a login to Canvas is required).To enable a midcourse survey, the department administrator will use the “DIG” survey setup process to turn on the option for any course. The option can be changed individually or in bulk for a large set of courses. Administrators can choose to send the survey results only to the instructor, or to both the instructor and the department.

DIG Cheat Sheet