SIRS Information for Instructors

Monitoring Survey Progress and Response Rates

After the survey begins and students start responding, instructors and administrators can view the response rate to gauge the survey progress. Only the overall percentage of completion is viewable; you cannot see whether individual students have completed the survey or not.

Enrollment data is updated daily, and students who withdraw from a course will not have access to the survey. However the enrollment numbers will still count withdrawn students, and the final enrollment number will update when the survey ends.

Instructions for Monitoring Response Rates

There are two methods to view response rates:

  1. To see response rates for individual courses, click the “Subject Management” button at the top of the screen.

  2. For an overview of the cumulative response rate with breakdowns by course, click the “Response Rate“ option in the left-hand margin.
  1. From the “Subject Management” page, each tile will change to show the response rate as soon as the survey starts.
  2. Click the circular arrows icon  to refresh the response rate and see up-to-the-minute changes. This is useful when having the students complete the survey in class, and you want to get live updates on the survey progress.
  3. Clicking the  icon allows instructors to view the current enrollment for the course but does not provide any additional information. Withdrawn students may still appear here, but will not have access to the survey and will be removed prior to report distribution.
  4. The  icon also provides access to a distinct link that faculty can give students to go directly to this survey and a “QR code” for displaying the link in the classroom.
  1. From the Response Rate dashboard, you will see graphs that show the cumulative response rate for all courses that you are monitoring. For department administrators or deans, this will be the overall response rate for your department or school.

  2. Below the charts are tables with breakdowns for each course. Scroll to the right to see the “Invited”, “Completed” and “Response Rate” columns. This list can be exported into Excel.

  3. Students also have access to the Response Rate dashboard, which will show them the response rates for courses in which they are enrolled. This can be useful if you are using the response rate as an incentive to encourage survey completion. The link for students to view the response rates for their own courses is https://sirs.rutgers.edu/monitor .

  4. The final set of graphs at the bottom of the page show more technical details about surveys, including the timing of the email reminders and student responses.

Student Experience and Access to Surveys

In Canvas, students will receive a pop-up reminder that their course surveys are available to be completed every time they log in. In the left-hand navigation bar in Canvas, they will also see “Student Instructional Ratings Surveys” in each of their course shells. This will open the survey for that course directly in Canvas for students to complete.

  • If students are seeing a blank screen when clicking the popup in Canvas, this may be due to their browser’s privacy settings or added extensions that interfere with the Canvas-to-Blue communication. These students should try the direct sirs.rutgers.edu/blue link instead. A Rutgers NetID is necessary to log in.

Students will receive email reminders from “Rutgers SIRS” with links to the surveys for their courses. Once they have completed the survey they will obtain a screen thanking them for completing it. These reminder emails are sent to the addresses listed in the roster. Since the address in the roster may not be current, please do not rely on the automatic email reminders alone. If faculty would like to post a reminder to complete the survey the link is https://sirs.rutgers.edu/blue.

Students must log in with their NetID to complete their surveys. This applies to all students, including non-Rutgers summer and winter students, and students in joint programs with NJIT or other institutions. Students are assigned a NetID when they first register for a course and must set a password by following the NetID activation instructions. Any students who cannot access the surveys should contact us directly at otear@rutgers.edu. Most problems are due to individual student account issues (deregistration, incorrect login information, etc.) and it is important for us to work directly with the student to resolve them.

Students with concerns about the privacy or anonymity of their comments can review our privacy statement or write to us at otear@rutgers.edu.

Encouraging Student Participation

Students are expected to complete the Student Instructional Ratings Survey at the end of the course. Please notify your students of the survey before the starting date and take a few minutes to discuss the importance of their participation. Providing time in class for students to complete the survey is one of the best strategies for instructors to support high response rates. Explaining to students the value of completing the survey supports student participation and giving them time in class to complete it further demonstrates the importance of their feedback. Students can easily complete the survey on a mobile device making it even easier for faculty to provide time in class for students to complete the survey.

Instructors can change the survey dates to accommodate the class meeting when they intend to conduct the survey. The SIRS Blue QR code page can be projected on the board and shows both the link and QR code that students can use to access their dashboard in Blue where all their surveys are listed. For a QR code directly to the survey for the specific section of a course, use the QR code found in the Blue survey settings.

The instructor can step outside and monitor the Response Rate. When an instructor logs into Blue they will see “Response Rate” on the left-hand side. This will not show student responses or who has responded, but will update in real time the response rate of each of the instructor’s classes. The instructor can then re-enter the room when the response rate is at an appropriate level. An instructor may want to quickly display the response rate monitor to students to demonstrate that it only shows the rate and not who responded or their responses. Reports are only provided to faculty after final grades are due.

Some other actions that can increase student response rate include:

  • Having a statement on your syllabus that you expect all students to complete the Student Instructional Rating Survey.
  • Taking some class time to discuss the importance of the survey.
  • Giving the students personal examples of how you have used prior surveys to improve your teaching.
  • Providing students with examples of constructive criticisms that you have found to be helpful.
  • Reminding your students that their feedback through the survey process is designed to help instructors learn about their teaching strategies, and to help departments in planning and designing future courses.
  • Assuring your students that their comments and the survey data are reported anonymously. Instructors never see any identifying information.
  • Inviting students to view survey data from previous semesters at https://sirs.rutgers.edu/
  • Using informal, midcourse surveys throughout the term to create a culture of feedback and assessment.
  • Informing the students that the surveys are used by the University in promotion, tenure, and reappointment decisions.
  • Some faculty have had success using incentives, for instance, if 80% of the students respond to the survey then the instructor will post one or two of the exam questions before the exam.

Discussing Feedback with Students

We encourage instructors to discuss student feedback with their students, as closing the loop is crucial for the feedback process. Faculty can discuss midcourse feedback with current students or review past SIRS feedback when teaching a subsequent semester. These discussions not only address student concerns but also educate students on how to provide focused, constructive feedback.

However, instructors should take care to avoid reprimanding or arguing with students about their feedback. Such actions can undermine trust and make students less likely to provide feedback in the future. Faculty should also assure students that survey responses are anonymous and that their feedback will never impact their grades. Before addressing negative feedback with their students, instructors may want to discuss the feedback with a trusted colleague or advisor. 

If an instructor feels a need to respond to student feedback in their teaching materials, the teaching portfolio offers a good place to address it, provide context, and explain their pedagogical approach.

Additional Information

How to Increase Response Rates from Cornell University
Strategies for increasing participation from Penn State University
SIRS frequently asked questions
SIRS dates and information