The Student Response Survey forms that students fill out at the end of every semester are now going online in a new pilot study conducted by the university.

The SRS are forms that students fill out at the end of each semester to evaluate the class that they are currently taking. The forms are meant to gauge the class as a whole and the professor teaching the course.

Despite the new online version, forms will not be any different from the hard copy form, but will be more interactive for students to complete.

“This has been floating around for quite a while,” Interim Provost Terese Wignot said. “The faculty can get the online responses from their students much quicker than the paper.”

For the pilot study there are approximately 80 sections and 50 faculty members that will be taking part in the study. It will cross many disciplines and grade levels and will only include tenured faculty members.

“I wanted only tenured faculty in case there were glitches,” Wignot said. “I didn’t want it to affect their evaluation process.”

With the new format it also saves the school money with forms. It is much more expensive with the paper format because of the printing and the hours that go into looking through the forms manually. With the online format, it will all be compiled electronically.

“There is a cost savings with it, especially since we developed an in-house and online SRS,” Wignot said.

For the faculty, all of the comments will be returned to them much more quickly in a PDF format.

Students that are going to be involved with the pilot study will receive an email notifying them that the SRS form is available online. It will also list all the courses that are available for an online SRS. After that, the students will follow the instructions that are given to them. Students will receive reminders while the form is available.

For students, the process, rating system and open-ended questions are still the same. Professors are also still able to add open ended questions as well. With the new format, faculty will be able to have students fill the online form out in class because it will be mobile-friendly.

“Instructors will have the option to do it in class,” Wignot said. “Students can use their phones to fill out the form; it will be mobile friendly.”

Instructors that will be taking part in the survey seem optimistic about the pilot study. Professor of communication studies Jane Elmes-Crahall added her input on the study.

“Most students do not take time to fill out the open ended questions (on the paper form),” Elmes-Crahall said. “As a teacher, I want to read what they wrote in the open ended questions.

Elmes-Crahall is hoping that with the online format students will not feel rushed when filling out the form.

Students will begin to receive emails April 29 and the surveys will be available until May 11. Students and faculty with any questions can contact Wignot and her office regarding the new online format at [email protected] and (570)408-4627.