Author: Caelin Bragg

Get ready to mark your calendars for the event of the year. The annual yard show is back and it’s going to be bigger and better than ever. This year will be a collaboration with National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) and Cultural Greek Council (CGC) to bring the community a show it won’t want to miss.

Get ready to witness the amazing talents and skills of WSU’s sororities and fraternities at 6 p.m. Aug. 29 at the Shocker Hall courtyard.

Join Shocker Rowing for an evening full of fun on the downtown Arkansas River with S’mores and Oars from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28. The event is available at no additional charge with a Shocker ID and $20 for anyone without a Shocker ID.

Boats and Bikes will provide yard games, s’mores, kayaks, stand-up paddle boards and pedal boats. Shocker Rowing will offer a “Learn 2 Row with Shocker Rowing” demonstration teaching anyone how to row on the Arkansas River, and fishing will be available through Wildlife and Fisheries.

Join the Shocker Career Accelerator for the Career Connection Root Beer Kegger from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28 on the lawn east of Hubbard Hall. Grab a hot dog, an ice-cold root beer (while supplies last) and chat with employers to learn about their organizations. Connecting with employers in this casual environment is a great way to make initial connections and learn more about their organizations.

Don’t forget to bring your Shocker ID for entry. You can leave the formal attire behind because the dress code for this event is casual. Register and view employer list, and let others know about the Root Beer Kegger.

For questions, contact the Shocker Career Accelerator at 316-978-3688 or SCA@wichita.edu; visit in-person in the Marcus Welcome Center, Suite 139; or learn more on the Shocker Career Accelerator website.

To commemorate 10 years of the Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College, faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends gathered for the Honors Eras Celebration at Wichita State University Aug. 24.

As part of the festivities, Clark Shultz, the mayor of Lindsborg, Kansas — hometown of Emory Lindquist, former president of Wichita State — presented a proclamation from the city of Lindsborg celebrating Wichita State University, the Honors Program that was named after Lindquist, and the Cohen Honors College.

The day of celebration began with a Connection Brunch — where honors alumni could network and mingle with other honors college members — and campus highlight tours, ending in the Honors Eras Celebration. The celebration included a student research showcase, an interactive journey through each Honors era and remarks from Kimberly Engber, dean of the Cohen Honors College; President Rick Muma; Shirley Lefever, executive vice president and provost; and Mayor Shultz.

The honors program began at Wichita State in 1957, making it one of the earliest established in the country, and was named after Lindquist in 1978. The program officially became an Honors College and established the Honors Baccalaureate degree in 2014 and was later named after Dorothy and Bill Cohen.

“Our university has the rich sense of belonging to the past, and the exciting feeling that the future is heavy with the promise of better things,” said Lindquist in his 1963, The Idea of a University, speech. “It is a place where the present is sometimes a difficult reality but it harbors great dreams about the future.”

Periodically, information will be posted regarding Watermark’s Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) tool to help users better understand Wichita State’s new course evaluation tool.

Today’s focus is on CES results.

• Results will only be available at the end of the completed semester. It does not matter when your course took place during the semester. Holding results until the end of the semester complies with KBOR policy and allows for accurate norming.
• Results will become available the Friday after grades are due to the Registrar’s Office.
• The electronic results can be found through the instructor dashboard under “Project Results.”
• There are restrictions on results. If the response rate is 0% or if the number of respondents is lower than four, then there will be no results. This restriction includes both statistics and comments.
• Results will include the mean, standard deviation, and median for the course. Reports will also show these statistics by university and division benchmarks. This benchmark data will be from the same semester as the evaluation and will not include any other data.
• Also included is a table of the “Mean of Means” by course and instructor questions.
• There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

For questions, contact Sandra Ranney at evaluations@ces.wichita.edu.

Periodically, information will be posted regarding Watermark’s Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) tool to help users better understand Wichita State’s new course evaluation tool.

Today’s focus is on response rate.

• A response rate widget will appear on the instructor’s dashboard when the semester’s project starts. However, data for a course may not appear until that course evaluation is available to the students.
• In the list below, there are some suggestions to potentially increase response rates and receive useful and constructive feedback.
  • Designate time in class for students to complete evaluations.
  • Add a blurb about course evaluations in the syllabus.
  • Let students know that you value their honest and constructive feedback and tell them how you use their feedback.
  • When evaluations open for the course, remind students that they are available.
  • Remind students that evaluations are completely anonymous, and results are not available until after grades are turned in to the Registrar’s office.
  • It is best to complete the evaluations sooner in the evaluation period rather than later. Blackboard will be affected if the student has not taken some action regarding the evaluation towards the end of the administration period.
• There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

For questions, contact Sandra Ranney at evaluations@ces.wichita.edu.

Periodically, information will be posted regarding Watermark’s Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) tool to help users better understand Wichita State’s new course evaluation tool.

Today’s focus is on the student experience.

• Students will receive an email and notification on Blackboard when an evaluation is open.
• Students can access the evaluation through Blackboard and through links provided in an email sent during the CES collection window.
• When students login to the CES system, they will see a table containing evaluation information. This table will show which evaluations are completed along with the date and time. It will also show upcoming evaluations with the dates they are scheduled to open.
• Students will see regular pop-up notifications in Blackboard during the CES evaluation time window.
• There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

For questions, contact Sandra Ranney at evaluations@ces.wichita.edu.

Periodically, information will be posted regarding Watermark’s Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) tool to help users better understand Wichita State’s new course evaluation tool.

Today’s focus is on the basic timeline.

• The CES Administrator programs the pre-determined dates for each process. This pre-determined schedule cannot be modified.
• The CES tasks are sent at midnight on the scheduled start date and will end at 11:59 p.m. on the scheduled end date.
• The manage course process for instructors: Instructors have 10 days from notification of the opt-out window to delete courses from CES.
• CES evaluations will be open for students for varying lengths of time, depending upon the length of the course term:
  • Fall and spring one-week to four-week courses: Two days
  • Fall and spring five-week to 16+ week courses: 10 days
  • Summer one- and two-week courses: Two days
  • Summer four-week to 10+ week courses: Seven days
• Current CES results will be available at the end of the semester. Results will continue to remain accessible afterwards.
• The availability date will be the Friday after grades are due to the Registrar.
• There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

For questions, contact Sandra Ranney at evaluations@ces.wichita.edu.

Periodically, information will be posted regarding Watermark’s Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) tool to help users better understand Wichita State’s new course evaluation tool.

Today’s focus is on “Main Course Evaluation.”

• The “Main Course Evaluation” is a core set of questions that will be sent to all courses in which the instructor has not selected to “opt-out.”
• Instructors can find these questions in CES. While in “Manage Courses,” click on the semester’s project, and then click on “Preview” to view the questions. The questions can also be found in the FAQs on the CES website.
• Some courses are not eligible for the “Main Course Evaluation.” These are courses that are appointment-based, research, COOP, Intensive English, Market-Based and weekend-only courses.
• There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

For questions, contact Sandra Ranney at evaluations@ces.wichita.edu.

Periodically, information will be posted regarding Watermark’s Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) tool to help users better understand Wichita State’s new course evaluation tool.

Today’s focus is on “How to use CES?”

• While in Blackboard, instructors can access CES anytime by choosing “Tools” from the main menu and selecting “CES Course Evaluations.” It can also be directly accessed via the links provided in emails sent to the instructor.
• Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys Dashboard will appear.
• Widgets will appear on the dashboard. When a task is available for a course, it will display information. If not, it may state “No Project Found.”
• The manage courses widget will only appear when that option is open and available to instructors.
• There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

For questions, contact Sandra Ranney at evaluations@ces.wichita.edu.