WSU will be moving to eXplorance Blue, as a new online course evaluation system for the university on all campuses.
After reviewing the experiences of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and technical units participating in a spring pilot, in July the Provost’s Stakeholder Review Committee recommended adopting eXplorance Blue as the university’s online course evaluation system. The successful pilot demonstrated that the Blue system can meet university needs in terms of features, technology and business environment, and offers flexible architecture for college-specific course evaluations and a variety of graphic displays and reports. The spring pilot involved approximately 3,500 students, 68 instructors and TAs, and courses in six colleges.
Provost Bernardo has approved Blue as the new course evaluation system, with the transition planned to take place over two years. For course evaluations, Blue will replace Skylight Survey System, an in-house software which is retiring in Fall 2014.
The Office of Assessment of Teaching and Learning (ATL) is leading the Blue project, managing the enterprise-wide software, coordinating with technical units and all colleges and campuses, and providing information to faculty and students. In Fall 2014, the Blue system will be used for end-of-term course evaluations in colleges or departments that currently use Skylight. Other colleges and departments may move into Blue in Spring 2015. ATL anticipates working individually with each college on fit-gap, logistics, workflow, and opportunities specific to its particular context. The university community should anticipate a two-year process to develop and refine use of the new system and its many enhancements.
A timeline, updates, and other information about the spring pilot, the stakeholder review, and eXplorance Blue are available on ATL’s website: http://atl.wsu.edu/online_course_evals_surveys/overview.html
