Skylight Survey System is Retiring: Surveys will End in December 2014
As announced in December 2013, WSU is retiring the Skylight Survey System, an in-house software that is reaching the end of its lifespan and is no longer maintainable. The system has been operated and supported by the Office of Assessment of Teaching and Learning (ATL).
Skylight has been used as a survey tool for a wide range of purposes, including assessment of student learning , faculty research, surveys about events or services, and evaluations and registrations.
For the fall semester, faculty, staff, students and units who are already experienced Skylight users can continue using Skylight for non-course evaluation surveys. This is self-service for existing surveys, as ATL is not available to provide training or consulting on surveys in Skylight.
All Skylight surveys running will end on December 31, and historic data must be downloaded by June 30, 2015. See ATL’s website for information on Skylight survey discontinuation and instructions for downloading data.
Areas or colleges which have contracts with other survey providers can continue to use their existing survey tools. If you have questions about survey tool options, please contact your college or area.
A Provost’s working group of WSU survey experts, information technology specialists, representatives from the Institutional Review Board, and different types of survey users, led by Vice Provost Erica Austin, has been exploring options for a survey tool, reviewing needed features, privacy and security requirements; and evaluating commercial products. The group will make recommendations to the Provost in early fall for further consideration, and the Provost’s Office will provide further guidance upon review of those recommendations.
For course evaluations, WSU is transitioning to a new system, using eXplorance Blue. Please see ATL’s website for information about course evaluations.
