Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys

Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys is a simple, robust course evaluation system that plugs directly into Canvas and provides completely anonymous student feedback. All end-of-semester course and faculty evaluations will be delivered via Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys. Visit the Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys website to view its features. *Note: You do not have to be teaching a course in Canvas in order for students to complete the evaluations.

Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys uses a survey and a project.

1. First, the survey is created, and then a survey is attached to a project.
2. Once the project is deployed, students will have two weeks at the end of the semester to complete their course evaluations.
3. Students and faculty will receive an automated email indicating when the evaluation period is open.
4. During Fall and Spring semesters, the evaluation period usually occurs during the final two weeks of the semester, but the academic calendar may influence the evaluation period dates. 
5. Evaluation periods always close at 11:59 pm the night before the first day of final exams.
6. All survey responses are anonymous. Instructors do not receive access to survey responses until 24 hours after grades have been reported. 

To see what students experience when the evaluation period opens, please visit Watermark CES information for students.

1. When the evaluation period begins, instructors receive an email indicating that the period has begun. The email contains a direct weblink that takes the instructor to their Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys Dashboard within Canvas.
2. Instructors can also access their Watermark CES dashboard by logging into Canvas. Then, in the global navigation menu in Canvas, click on Account, then Settings. After entering the Settings page, wait for a few seconds and the 'Course Evaluations' link will appear. (If the link does not load, clear your Internet history and try again.) Clicking on the 'Course Evaluations' link will take you to your Watermark CES dashboard.
3. In the image below, you see a screenshot of what your Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys dashboard should resemble. During an active evaluation project, you will see a 'Response Rate Tracker' (as indicated in the image).
   •  
4. Click on the link to see course response rates for each of your courses. The tracker will help you keep track of the response rates of your courses during active, open evaluations. Use the Response Rate Tracker to help you encourage students to complete their evaluations.
   • 

Once the evaluation period has closed, administrators and instructors receive an email. The email contains a weblink to their Watermark CES dashboard.

Click on the link within the email to go to your survey dashboard. The survey dashboard contains a course link for each of your courses. 

Clicking on the course link will direct the instructor to a new page. On that page, instructors can download survey results. Select the download icon under "Report." Instructors can then download a PDF report, and raw data via Excel Spreadsheet.

Watermark CES provides report generation via PDF file and raw data file via Excel Spreadsheet. If instructors wish to conduct more statistical measurements of the results, the raw data can be imported into statistical software packages such as SPSS.

The PDF report contains the mean and standard deviations for each question. Mean ranges are flagged/color-coded: green = mean between 4.00 and 5.00, yellow = mean between 3.00 and 3.99, and red = mean between 0 and 2.99. It also contains benchmarks comparing departmental results to university-wide results. An overall mean-of-means calculation is also provided.

• Download an example of a PDF report. (This is only a sample.)
• Download an example of raw data, along with additional statistics conducted manually inside Excel.
• Download the survey evaluation questions that will be used this semester (Fall 2019)

Optional mid-term evaluations are also available. There is a short-form instrument and a long-form instrument. If you are interested in using a mid-term evaluation in your course. please contact us at evaluationkit@jsu.edu. 

Administrators (deans, associate deans, department chairs/heads) are able to create different types of reports in Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys. Deans and Associate Deans can create school-wide level reports and department level reports. Department chairs/heads can create department-level reports. Administrators also have the ability to create course section-level reports and instructor-specific reports. Download this tutorial to learn how to generate different types of reports. 

1. Does my Canvas course need to be "Published" in Canvas for Watermark CES to work?
   • Answer: No. Watermark CES generates a survey for courses marked “Published” and “Unpublished.”
2. Can an administrator add their own questions?
   • Answer: Yes, Administrators can add up to 10 questions to a survey project. Contact online@jsu.edu for more information about how to add questions.
3. Can my students complete the survey with mobile devices?
   • Answer: Yes. Students can use any Android or Mac device to complete the survey. Students can access their evaluations via the Canvas Student App. They must also have their pop-up blocker turned off.
     
4. Are student responses anonymous?
   • Answer: Yes, student responses are completely anonymous. Watermark CES does NOT provide data that directly connects survey responses to a specific student.
5. Tip: For courses with 5 students or less, you may consider not requiring your students to complete the survey.

For further information or EvaluationKIT support, please contact online@jsu.edu.