WSU Chooses New Online Course Evaluation System

WSU is 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 spring 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. Provost Bernardo has approved Blue as the new course evaluation system, with the transition planned to take place over two semesters. For course evaluations, Blue will replace the Skylight Survey System, an in-house software which is retiring.

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 expect a two-year process to develop and refine use of the new system and its many enhancements.

ATL appreciates input and support from faculty and staff as we move forward with this transition, implementing the new system to provide information about the student experience in their courses and to maximize the usefulness of the results for faculty, departments, colleges, and campuses.