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Surveys and Student Feedback

Blackboard’s survey tool provides the ability for instructors to gauge student opinion anonymously. Surveys are very similar to Blackboard assessments, however they are ungraded and are completely anonymous, meaning that student responses cannot be linked back to individual students. Surveys are also similar to assessments in the sense that they must be created in the Survey Manager and subsequently deployed to a content area.

Create a New Survey

  1. Click the Course Tools link in your course Control Panel (lower left-hand menu).
  2. Click Tests, Surveys, and Pools.
a screenshot of the Course Tools drop down menu with Tests, Surveys, and Pools selected  
  1. Click Surveys on the Tests, Surveys, and Pools page.
  2. Click the Build Survey button on the Surveys page.
  3. Type a Name for your survey and click Submit.
a screenshot of the Survey Name field  
  1. Click the Create Question button on the Survey Canvas page.
a screenshot of the Create Question drop down menu  
  1. Choose what type of question you’d like to create from the menu.
  2. Some question types that you may want to use on a survey include:
  • Either/Or – Questions with Yes/No,Agree/Disagree, Right/Wrong, True/False responses.
  • Essay – Write a comment with no limit on character use.
  • Multiple Answer – Select all that apply using check boxes.
  • Opinion Scale/Likert
  • On the Create/Edit Question page, enter the Question Text and Answer Choices.
  • Click Submit.
a screenshot of the Question dialog box  
  • Repeat Steps 6 – 10 for each additional question that you’d like to create for the Survey.
  • Click the OK button in the lower right corner when you are finished.

Deploy the Survey to Students

The Survey that you created will not be available to students until it is deployed.

a screenshot of surveys that have not been deployed  

  1. Click the course menu link where you’d like your students to find the Survey.
  • Example: Here there is a content area called StudentFeedback.
  • For more information on creating course links, review the document here.
a screenshot of the Course Content listing  
  • In the content area, hover over the Assessments button and click Survey.
a screenshot of the Assessments drop down menu with Survey selected  
  • On the Create Survey page, click the survey you’d like to deploy inside the Add an Existing Survey list box.
a screenshot of the Add Survey dialog box  
  • Click Submit.
  • Select all of the Survey options you’d like including Availability, Due Dates, and Presentation.
  • For more information, review the Test Options document here.

Analyze Survey Feedback

Since surveys are anonymous, survey results must be viewed all together in one file. It is best to wait until all students have submitted their results to preserve the concept and goal of using a survey. Students who have submitted their survey will show a green check mark in the accompanying grade column in the Grade Center. Students who have not yet submitted the survey will show an empty grade cell for that column.

a screenshot of the Grade Center drop down menu  

  1. Click the Grade Center link in the course Control Panel.
  2. Click Full Grade Center and scroll right to find the column that represents your survey.
  • A green check mark indicates if a student has completed the survey.
  • Click the action link in the header of the survey column and click Attempts Statistics from the dropdown menu.
a screenshot of the Survey action drop down menu and Download Results selected  
  • Each question will display along with all anonymous responses from students.
  • Objective responses will be quantified as percentages.
  • Subjective responses, such as comments, will display in their entirety without any associated user data.
a screenshot of the Questions Results screen  
  • Results can also be downloaded and viewed in an Excel spreadsheet.
  • From the Full Grade Center view, click the action link in the column header and select Download Results.
  • On the Download Results page, click the button titled Click to download results.
a screenshot of the Download Results button  
  • Open the downloaded file.
  • In the Microsoft Excel security warning, click Yes to open the file.
a screenshot of the Excel warning notification  
  • Rearrange the data in Excel in any way you prefer.

For additional support, visit http://uhd.edu/bbhelpform