We are changing the administration of the Student Instructional Rating Survey (SIRS) for fully-online courses that are taught through eCollege (Pearson Learning Studio). Previously, the Center for Online and Hybrid Learning and Instructional Technologies (COHLIT) ran the surveys for many of these courses directly through eCollege. Beginning with the Summer 2017 term, the Center for Teaching Advancement and Assessment Research (CTAAR) will administer all eCollege course surveys through our "evaluationKit pilot" process. This change is necessary due to the eCollege "end of life", as the underlying survey component will soon cease to work in eCollege.
The only significant change that eCollege instructors and students will notice is that eCollege will no longer issue a "pop-up" alert to students to prompt them to complete the survey. Students and instructors will instead receive multiple email reminders. Some courses may see a small drop in student participation in SIRS as a result, but experience varies from course to course.
Instructors who prefer that students receive an in-course "pop-up" prompt to complete the survey may want to consider moving their eCollege course to either Blackboard or Canvas, which we have now configured to support this feature (please note that this is automatic with Canvas, but for Blackboard courses you must contact CTAAR to request that we enable this feature for your course). Sakai is currently unable to support "pop up" prompts for surveys.
If you are teaching a course through eCollege and have any questions, please contact us at ctaar@brokenmail.rutgers.edu please replace "brokenmail" with docs.rutgers.edu.
If you have questions about migrating your eCollege course contact help@brokenmail.rutgers.edu please replace "brokenmail" with ecollege.rutgers.edu. COHLIT has additional information about preparing for the eCollege "End of Life".
