Author: Caelin Bragg

This week’s Student Success and Persistence highlight comes from Daniel Ludlow, custodial manager of special events and projects.

Daniel graduated from Wichita State in fall 2022 with his Bachelor of Arts in Education, emphasis in mathematics (secondary), while working full time in custodial services and took on his current role in October 2022.

While he found it difficult to work full time and earn an education at the same time, staff in the now Office of Online and Adult Learning (OAL) supported him every step of the way.

“Every time I hit a bump in my education and thought I needed to step away or couldn’t keep going, they were there to help me find a solution that kept me going,” Daniel said.

The department assisted him in determining the right major for him and shifting to being a part-time student to help him balance work and his education. Thanks to the department’s help, Daniel was able to graduate and further his career to support his family.

“If it wasn’t for a multitude of people in the department, I would not have earned my degree,” Daniel said.

One staff member who contributed to his success during his time as a student was Pamela O’Neal, associate director of student engagement in OAL.

“Daniel was an exemplary adult learner in that he was working full time, raising his family and earning his degree,” O’Neal said. “As an Osher Scholar, Daniel was a great asset to new incoming students, giving advice where he could and always having a great attitude. Wichita State benefited from having him as a student and now benefits from him being an employee.”

Do you know of a faculty or staff member who promotes student success, or a student who has been helped by a faculty or staff member, that should be highlighted in WSU Today? Email your ideas to Caelin Bragg, newsletter editor with the Office of Strategic Communications, at caelin.bragg@wichita.edu.

Wichita State was featured by Inside Higher Ed for its new minor in student organization leadership, highlighting how it will support students in their co-curricular activities and credential their experience.

Wichita State introduced the minor, housed under the College of Applied Studies, last year to provide Shockers the knowledge and skills they need to be effective leaders within their organizations.

This week’s Student Success and Persistence highlight comes from Robin Monroe.

Robin — a junior social work major — hopes to eventually get her postgraduate degree in social work with an emphasis on advocacy and social policy. She has received tremendous support from the Office of Online and Adult Learning (OAL) while pursuing her degree.

Staff at OAL assisted Robin with finding solutions to her problems both in and out of school, and she has been thankful to all the faculty and staff she has reached out to for always making themselves available for questions.

“My experience at Wichita State has been the most fulfilling, rewarding and challenging time of my life,” Robin said. “I’ve waited a long time to get here, and I am so grateful for this opportunity.”

It’s been thanks to OAL that Robin has had the tools she needs to succeed at Wichita State, and OAL remains dedicated to helping all students persist to their graduation.

“Robin is the kind of person both students and professors want to have in class,” said Pamela O’Neal, associate director of student engagement in OAL. “She’s attentive, personable and intelligent. Not only is she a high achieving student, she brings wisdom and experience to the classroom and wherever she goes. When she comes into the office, we know we are going to be inspired by all that she does and her willingness to help whomever she can.”

You can hear more about Robin on the Shockers Learning Out Loud podcast from OAL.

Do you know of a faculty or staff member who promotes student success, or a student who has been helped by a faculty or staff member, that should be highlighted in WSU Today? Email your ideas to Caelin Bragg, newsletter editor with the Office of Strategic Communications, at caelin.bragg@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 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 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:
  • one-week and two-week courses: two days
  • five-week to 16-week courses: 10 days
  • Summer four-week to 11-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.

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 emails.

• CES uses email communication to send out information regarding the evaluation process.
• Emails will come from WSU Evaluations (evaluations@ces.wichita.edu).
• Emails are sent according to a specific timeline. CES operates from the course’s part-of-term, meaning the course start and end dates will determine when emails are sent out.
• If you teach courses that are in different terms, you will receive duplicate emails. These emails provide information that pertains to that part-of-term.
• The emails will also inform instructors if they need to take any specific actions regarding their course(s) within CES.
• There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

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