Author: Sandra Ranney

Watermark’s Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) tool is Wichita State’s new course evaluation tool. Find more information over the coming weeks in WSU Today about CES.

Today’s focus is “What Is CES?”

• CES is a course evaluation platform from Watermark. The evaluation portion of the platform is called “Course Evaluations & Surveys” and at WSU, is referred to it as CES.
• CES has replaced SPTEs as the source for course evaluations.
• CES is easy to use and is integrated with Blackboard.
• CES results are electronic and will be available at the end of the semester.
• Using CES should increase response rates.
• There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

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

Instructors who used Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) for the spring semester will have access to the results on Friday, May 19. There will be an email sent from “WSU Evaluations” with information on how to access the results.

Student Perception of Teaching Effectiveness (SPTE) results are tentatively set to be mailed to the departments on Thursday, May 25. Check with your department after this date regarding your SPTE results packet(s).

Additional information regarding both course evaluations can be found on their respective websites:

• Course Evaluations & Surveys
• Student Perception of Teaching Effectiveness

This semester, course evaluations will transition more to the new platform, Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES). CES utilizes Blackboard to centralize all facets of the course evaluation process:

• Communications to alert faculty and students to take action
• Dashboards for both faculty and students to monitor activity
• Deliver the course evaluation to the students
• Reports available for faculty on completed evaluations

Having the CES components embedded within a central location where most instructional activity is being done is key to maintaining communications and performance.

More information can be found on the CES website. Additionally, check for emails sent from WSU Evaluations or Sandra Ranney, and for spring 2023 SPTE users, a letter with the results.

For any questions, contact Sandy Ranney at sandra.ranney@wichita.edu.

Course Evaluations are being conducted for both SPTEs and the Course Evaluations and Surveys (CES) pilot. Since CES is a pilot, not all courses will be available for administration. It’s suggested that you elect to use one or the other evaluation tool for a single course. If you are unsure which evaluation tool to use, check with your department.

The results from the CES pilot cannot be submitted for any official review process. including T&P, FAR, post-tenure review or department policies, so here are the steps needed for if you do or do not need official reviews:

If you need course evaluations for any official review:

• Submit the SPTE request form by Wednesday, Feb. 22.
• When you receive an email from evaluations@CES.wichita.edu, you will need to opt-out the courses you don’t want in the CES Pilot. This way your students will not receive two course evaluations for the same course. These emails are distributed according to the part-of-term your course(s) is assigned.

If you do not need course evaluations for any official review:

• Do not submit the SPTE request form.
• When you receive an email from evaluations@CES.wichita.edu, you will need to only opt-out the courses you do not want evaluated through the CES pilot.

All instructors who are in the pilot group will receive emails from evaluations@CES.wichita.edu.  Steps to opt-out by deleting courses in CES and additional information can be found on the Watermark Tools homepage under the section menu.

Fall 2022 Student Perception of Teaching Effectiveness (SPTE) results are being mailed to departments this week. Additionally, information regarding spring 2023 course evaluations has been included in the result packets.

The SPTE request form for spring 2023 pre-session courses is available. Request a form at the button below or contact the Social Science Research Lab’s office at 978-3384.

If you requested SPTEs for your first 8-week course(s), the sealed results have been sent to your department. Please check with your department administration if you are expecting these results.

Any additional SPTE information can be found at the Social Science Research Lab’s website.

The Student Perception of Teaching Effectiveness (SPTE) Request Form for instructors teaching a course for the fall 2022 term is due to the Social Science Research Lab no later than Sept. 28.

SPTEs are still needed to satisfy the requirements regarding the annual Faculty Annual Report (FAR), Tenure and Promotion or post-tenure review. SPTEs will be offered until we switch over to Watermark Course Evaluation and Survey (CES) platform.

For those who have not already submitted a fall 2022 SPTE Request Form, they can download the form at the SPTE Request Forms website.

Are you teaching a course during fall 2022?  If so, you will still need to have Student Perception of Teaching Effectiveness (SPTE) form administered to your course(s) if the results are needed for tenure and promotion, Faculty Activity Report, etc. If you have not already submitted a SPTE Request form, you can do so by clicking the link below. The due date for submissions is Sept. 28.

The Student Perception of Teaching Effectiveness (SPTE) request form has been sent to the email addresses of instructors teaching a course during the fall 2022 term. Any instructors who would prefer their course(s) to be evaluated need to submit a request no later than Sept. 28.

To fill the request form out now, visit the SPTE Request form website.