Explorance Blue: Use an Early Term Student Feedback survey (for Instructors)

This article shows how instructors can set up your Early Term Student Feedback survey in Explorance Blue

Explorance Blue is the Student Rating of Teaching (SRT) tool used to help improve teaching, to rate and acknowledge teaching effectiveness, and to assist future students in selecting courses. The University Survey & Assessment Services (USAS) administers SRT for the University of Minnesota. 

In this article: 

Planning the Timing for Your Survey

You need to decide the best time frame for students to complete the survey. There are a few considerations to keep in mind:

  • Based on the date you set as the start date/time, students will receive an invitation email from the Center for Education Innovation (CEI) and University Survey & Assessment Services (USAS) asking them to complete the survey. At that point, they can access the survey.
  • We recommend choosing a date range of at least 3-5 days to keep the survey open.
  • It is best to give students time in class to finish the survey. This will increase your response rate, and you can review the results and discuss them with your students in a timely manner.
  • You can also set the exact time for each survey to open, so if you have class time set aside for gathering feedback, set the Start Date for that class time.
  • Be sure that you inform students that they will be receiving the survey and why you are collecting feedback. Ask them to watch for the email.
  • Instructors will receive the results of the survey based on the set End Date and Time.

Note: Students will not be able to complete the survey after the set End Date and Time.

Creating a Survey

Follow the steps below to create a survey for your students, keeping in mind the recommendations given in the Planning your survey section in this article.

  1. Log in to srt.umn.edu/blue with your University username and password. 
    • You will begin on the home page with your Tasks prominently visible in the main body of the screen. 
    • There should be an Early Term Feedback task for each course you are teaching this semester.
  2. Examine your task list to find the course(s) and section(s) you want to send the survey to:
    • There is a task for every section you are teaching this semester.
    • The date is the last date that you can set up your feedback survey.
    • The green Open rectangle will turn into a blue Completed rectangle when you complete a survey setup.
      Survey Tasks window with some marked "Completed" and some marked "Open"
  3. Select the course that you wish to set up an Early Term Feedback survey. 
  4. After the course opens, select Create. A new window will open over the application with options to create the survey.
  5. Choose your survey date range by selecting the Calendar icon to the right of the date and time fields to update the date and time. 
    • The Start Date and time will send students an email asking them to complete the survey.
    • The End Date and time will close the survey for students and send the instructor an email with the results.
      Start Date and End Date fields for survey
  6. Select the Calendar icon to the right of the date and time fields to update the date and time. 
    • Note: If you choose a time outside of this window, red text will appear to remind you of the available date range.
  7. Important: Select Apply to update the Start and End DatesThe date will not change if you do not make this selection.
  8. Select the Launch button in the bottom right corner.
  9. Add the chosen dates to your calendar and/or syllabus.
  10. After setting up a survey, the tasks associated with the course that you just set up should now say Complete instead of Open. Repeat the process for your other classes.
    • Note: You may need to reload your browser's tab to see the updated status. 

Viewing Survey Results

  1. Once the end date has passed, you will receive an email notification with a link to your report. 
  2. Refer to the Reports section below the Tasks section to review responses.

Use the following resources to learn more about the Response Rate Monitor and Instructor Feedback Dashboard:

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