Surveys: Blackboard and Qualtrics

a hand holding a pencil filling in a bubble sheet for a survey

Why Conduct Mid-Semester and End of Semester Surveys

Surveys can be used to gauge how students are feeling about your course, the materials, and the instructor. Well-constructed surveys can provide instructors with data to assess students’ experience and make adjustments to improve student satisfaction, if needed. "Not only are mid-semester surveys a great idea, but one that we encourage", says Julie Nash, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Student Success.

Mid-semester surveys provide feedback that can be applied immediately to the course. Students respond positively when their comments result in changes to the course, leading to improved student attitudes about the class and/or instructor (Keutzer, 1993). It is recommended to keep mid-semester surveys brief and to avoid administering additional surveys at the end of the semester, when end-of semester course evaluations occur, to avoid survey fatigue (Davies, 2019).

How to Build and Deploy Surveys in Qualtrics and On-Campus Blackboard

UMass Lowell Supports Qualtrics and Blackboard Survey Tools

Qualtrics is a web based survey software available to all faculty and staff. Surveys can be anonymized and deployed in Blackboard or anywhere outside of Blackboard. To create an account in one click, select Qualtrics, the same link can be found on the IT Software page. If the link is deployed within Blackboard, the date and time can be set to open at a specific time, otherwise, live deployment is required. The data is exportable to be viewed in Excel. 

The Academic Technology Team has developed three mid-semester survey templates for your convenience. The survey templates can be modified to meet your individual needs or you can build your own survey.

Blackboard surveys are a simple survey tool available to all instructors within a Blackboard course. They can be deployed in a content area in the course and will only be available to the people enrolled in that course. Once a survey is created, it can then be deployed in a content area and set to open and close on a specific date and time. The data is exportable to be viewed and analyzed in Excel or other data sorting software. If you do not have a Blackboard course, follow the Course Setup steps on the Information for Faculty page.

For more information, contact bbhelp@uml.edu.