Watermark Course Evaluations

Watermark integrates with ISU Canvas and the Banner system to automatically import students and auto-refresh enrollment ensuring that all students have the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback. Automatic notifications and embedded survey experiences in ISU Canvas, paired with fully responsive design, make it simple for students to complete their surveys using any device. 

Administrators and faculty will have one-click access to real-time results. Reports can be configured to analyze data by criteria such as course sections and student demographics, compare results, and track trends over time with longitudinal reporting. Through Watermark, standardized processes and survey instruments can be easily created to ensure that data collection is consistent across the institution while allowing departments and instructors to tailor inputs to their needs.

Data security and privacy are core to Watermark’s systems and processes. They ensure that the system is scalable, reliable, accessible, and performs as expected during peak times and throughout the year with an AWS cloud-hosted solution.

• Watermark integrates with Canvas and Banner to pull the most recent student enrollments for each course.
• Targeted evaluation questions for each department are mapped to courses via the course title.
• Each evaluation cycle is launched via a Watermark "Project" that is configured to:
  • Map to courses that fit a specific date range
  • Automatically open and close on specific dates
  • Send automated correspondence to students, faculty, and administrators/coordinators
  • Create easy-to-access reports and analytics
• Evaluation responses are completely anonymous.

See the article, Overview of Watermark Course Evaluation System or contact the ITRC for more information.

Students:

• Students receive automated emails with direct links to the course evaluations that they have been assigned to. 
• When students log into Canvas, a pop-up window will appear with direct links to any evaluations that they have not yet completed - they have the option to close the window, but every time they log in to Canvas, they will see the pop-up until they have completed all assigned evaluations.
• Any students who have not yet completed evaluations by a specific date in the project will receive reminders via the Watermark system
• Watermark is mobile-friendly so they may use any device to access and complete the evaluations.

Instructors:

• See the article, Viewing Course Evaluation Results for Faculty for instructions and frequently asked questions.

Administrative Assistants and Program Coordinators:

• See the article, Viewing Course Evaluation Results for Administrators and Coordinators for instructions and frequently asked questions.

The Course Evaluation Coordinator Request Form needs to be submitted by the department chair (or their designee) with the contact information of the individuals selected to be the evaluation coordinators. This form needs to be re-submitted if a new coordinator is assigned to a department.

Once the request is processed, coordinators will be given administrator access to the Watermark system in order to process reports and results.

Departments are not required to use the Watermark system.

You may also choose to use Qualtrics to collect, store, and analyze your survey results. Note: The ITRC does not provide support for Qualtrics. For more information please review About Qualtrics or contact the helpdesk at 282-HELP or help@isu.edu.

Please direct questions to Laura Ahola-Young, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and the Instructional Technology Resource Center.