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How do I create a mid-semester evaluation for my course?

The eTAP (electronic Teaching Analysis Poll) is a simple solution for collecting mid-semester feedback from your students, developed by the Center for Teaching Excellence (opens new window) and ITS.  The eTAP is a short, anonymous, student feedback instrument which is grounded in the literature on effective teaching and learning.  It offers a great way to find out what your students think most helps and impedes their learning in your course and also elicits suggestions for improving their overall learning experience. Best of all, you can take advantage of the information immediately, not next semester.

The eTAP, available through the Tests & Quizzes feature of UVACollab, includes eleven questions, four open-ended, qualitative questions and seven likert-scale questions.  Similar to end-of-semester evaluations, you are welcome to add additional questions to help you learn more about your specific learning environment.  Whether you choose to use only the pre-set questions or add your own, all of the feedback collected from the eTAP is available only to instructors in the site.

This article answers the following questions:

When should I use the eTAP?

We recommend that you conduct the eTAP sometime between the fourth and tenth weeks of the semester, mid-term is ideal. This time frame helps you confirm strengths of your course(s) and identify areas for improvement. Small changes you make based on the feedback will help you and your students get more from the course with no delay.

What else should I know?

Because the eTAP is a completely anonymous survey, it differs from other assessments in Tests & Quizzes in the following ways:

  • Your students will not be able to access the eTAP from within your site's Tests & Quizzes tool.  The URL will be presented when you publish the assessment.  You must distribute this URL to students for them to submit the eTAP.
  • Once you make the link available to students, they can submit it even when they are not logged in to UVACollab.  This means that unlike the Respondent List for official Course Evaluations, no record is available to know who submitted the eTAP.
  • Anyone to whom you provide the link to an eTAP can submit it as many times as they like.

How do I use the eTAP?

To use the eTAP, simply add the Test & Quizzes tool to your course's UVACollab site, import the eTAP survey, and publish it (directions below), then invite your students to participate. We suggest giving them 4-7 days to complete the eTAP. Once the feedback period closes, you can access submission data via the Scores screens in Tests & Quizzes.

Add Tests & Quizzes to your UVACollab site.

For steps to add the Tests & Quizzes tool to your site, see How do I add a tool to my site?

Download the eTAP survey.

Download the zip file attached below and save it to your computer.

Import the eTAP to Tests & Quizzes in your site.

Follow the steps to import an assessment to add the eTAP to your UVACollab site's Tests & Quizzes tool.

Customize the survey.

After importing, you can add questions to the eTAP to customize it for your course.  Follow the steps in How do I add a new question (with the assessment builder)?

Configure availability dates.

Set when your students will have access to the survey by following the steps in How do I inspect and adjust the settings of an assessment? to specify the available and due dates for the eTAP.

Publish the eTAP and make the URL available to students.

Because anonymous surveys do not display for students in Tests & Quizzes, you will need to provide your students with the assessment URL either while publishing the assessment OR after it is published.

To provide the URL to students at the time of publishing, follow the steps below, starting with Select to publish the assessment.

If you already published your eTAP and need to find the URL, skip to Locate the Published Assessment URL.

Select to publish the assessment.

Publish from the Settings screen.

If you were editing the availability dates for the assessment, and you are still viewing the Settings screen, scroll to the bottom of the page and select the Save Settings and Publish button.

Or publish from the Action menu.

From the Tests & Quizzes tool home screen, choose the Publish option in the drop-down menu for the Electronic Teaching Analysis Poll.

Be sure that you are in the Working Copies tab; otherwise, you will not see your unpublished items.

Provide the URL to students.

Select to send email notification.
  1. On the Publish Assessment screen, select and send notification below to students from the drop-down menu for email notification.
  2. A text box will appear where you can enter an optional message to include in the email to students.
  3. Select Publish.
Or copy the URL while publishing the eTAP.

Alternatively, you can copy the eTAP's URL to provide it to students via other means, such as linking it on a lesson page.

  1. Select and copy the URL (starting with https://) to your computer's clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere.
  2. Select Publish.

You can then paste this URL where you can make it available to students, for example as a link on a lesson page.

Or locate the Published Assessment URL.

If your eTAP is already published, you can find its URL in the published copy's Settings.

Select the Published Copies tab.

From the Tests & Quizzes tool home screen, select the Published Copies tab to view the assessments that have been released in your site.

Select Settings.

Select the Settings option from the drop-down menu for the Electronic Teaching Analysis Poll.

Select and copy the Published Assessment URL.

Under About this Assessment, to the right of Published Assessment URL, select and copy the URL (starting with https://) to your computer's clipboard.

You can then paste this URL where you can make it available to students, for example in an email or as a link on a lesson page.

How do I view results?

After students submit the eTAP, you can view their responses on the Scores screens by following the steps in How do I grade Tests & Quizzes?