HelioCampus AC - Eval Survey Instance - Settings (Admin) [UW-Madison]
Every HelioCampus AC survey instance comes with five date fields which control various behaviors of the survey. This document explains these dates and shares best practices.
Locating the Survey Dates
- From the HelioCampus AC main menu, (the three-stacked lines icon) select Survey Manager.
- Locate the survey in question.
Note: You may need to add or remove filters to locate a survey. Select +Add a Filter to narrow your search, or click the X on an existing filter to remove it.
- Select the Manage button, on the right-side of the screen.
- In the navigation bar on the left, select Settings.
- You will now see these five dates. If you want to change any date, you must first change the activation date to today's date and save prior to changing any other dates.
About Those Dates
| Title | What is it? | Who is notified? | Default date | Modifiable? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activation Date: | A reminder for the department HelioCampus AC administrator. | The HelioCampus AC admin will receive an email notifying that the activity for this survey is about to begin. Please, review the survey instance to ensure it is ready to go. |
Two weeks prior to the Survey Starts date (described below). | Yes | When changing dates, set this date first, then save before editing other dates. This date can be any time before any of the other dates. Normally it is set at least two weeks before the survey begins. This is also a good time to notify instructors that the evaluation season is coming, and they should start thinking about whether they want any custom questions built for their sections. |
| Faculty Notification: | This email informs the instructors that the evaluation period is about to begin. | Instructors for the course sections included in this survey instance | Three days before the Survey Starts date | Yes | For instructors to receive notification, course sections must be assigned to the survey at least 24 hours before this Faculty Notification date. |
| Survey Starts: | The first day students can access and complete course evaluations. | Students will receive an email notifying them that the evaluation is now open. | Students receive the initial email and a reminder email is sent every three days. Emails continue until either student completes survey, or the survey ends. | Yes | Recommend leaving the Survey Starts date at its default value, unless the survey is a pre-semester or mid-semester survey. HelioCampus AC will consolidate reminder emails for students, provided the emails are being sent on the same day. If every school/college were to declare their own survey start dates, students will be receiving reminder emails every day. |
| Survey Ends: | This date identifies the last day students can complete the course evaluation. | Yes | |||
| Results Available: | The first date instructors can access the specific responses in an HelioCampus AC course evaluation. | Instructors | 4 days after final grades are due (to accommodate the 3 day extended grading deadline) | No. (Set by institution.) | Results Available date also applies to evaluations administered for short courses. A short course and its survey may end mid-summer. But the instructor cannot see the results until after the entire summer semester has ended. |
Managing Surveys During Summer or Winterim Sessions
Within HelioCampus AC, all semesters have one start date, and one end date, which includes summer. However, for summer and January (Winterim) terms, there are several sessions. For that reason, many HelioCampus AC departmental administrators wind up managing their summer surveys through multiple survey schedules.
For summer semesters, consider the following:
- Each survey schedule creates only one survey instance. If you need three different combinations of survey start dates and end dates, you will need three separate schedules.
- After a survey schedule creates the requisite survey instance, you will need to customize the survey dates. (Learn@UW-Madison recommends publishing the schedule and changing the dates within the survey instance.)
- When customizing the survey dates:
- Change the Activation date to a date before you want the survey to start.
- Next change the Start and End dates.
- Change the Faculty Notification date to three days before the survey starts.
- Since summer sessions are shorter, some departments only allow a week for the evaluation to run before ending it. (But, that decision is up to each department. Next click Save.)
- For detailed instructions on accessing and editing survey dates, refer to HelioCampus AC - Eval Survey Instance - Settings (Admin) [UW-Madison].