Defining General Survey Settings

  1. The General Tab will open automatically after you’ve clicked to add a survey. This includes basic settings, survey details, tags, location information, and calendar settings.
    1. Basic Settings includes the Title (required) and a  Description of the survey. 
    2. Survey Details includes the Contributor (administrator creating the content) and one Category (which may be predefined in the Control Panel). 
    3. Tags allows you to add one or more tags (which may be predefined in the Control Panel). 
    4. Location Information references where the survey may be taken. 
    5. Calendar Settings allows you to specify the date/time that the survey will be displayed on the Content Calendar and the What’s New list. Duration sets how long the event lasts so that students know what time and how long the survey is available to take.

      This does not affect the actual availability of the assignment. Availability settings must be set from the Availability tab.

  2. The Availability tab is where you will specify the publish options:
    • Draft – The survey is in design phase and unavailable for users to view. Once created, the survey is left in draft mode until questions have been added.
    • Released – The survey is available to students, subject to set availability restrictions.
    • Closed – Users can no longer take the survey. The survey will remain visible to users (if it is a Course and Protected Survey) and is shown as red, but they will not be able to enter it.
  3. The Availability tab also lets you set time restrictions that define additional options such as entering a release date, due date and expiration date, the access level, submissions limit, and defining a password.
    • Selecting a release date sets the date/time that the survey becomes available to take.
    • The due date is the last possible date/time that users may begin the survey.
    • The expiration date sets a date/time in which the survey must be completed and submitted. Once a survey expires it will no longer be available or visible to students. Also, any user currently taking the survey will be automatically removed from the survey and will be unable to re-enter or submit it after that date/time.
    • Access Level determines what type of survey you are creating. There are three types of surveys; Public, Protected, and Course.
      • Public surveys are available to anyone and can be accessed either from within the SOLE course or by following a link that is automatically generated once a public survey is created.
      • Protected surveys can be accessed either from within the SOLE course or by following a link that is automatically generated once a protected survey is created. They differ from a public survey in that the survey taker must have a SOLE account and be logged in to their SOLE account to take the survey. However, they are not required to be a user within the survey’s SOLE Course.
      • Course surveys can only be taken by SOLE users that have access to the survey’s SOLE course.
    • You can also set up a password for the survey that must be entered to gain access.
    • Surveys can be set up to allow for only one submission or to allow multiple submissions. Course and Protected surveys can be set up for either option but Public surveys can only allow for multiple submissions and cannot be limited to only one submission.
    • When editing an existing survey, you can also choose to display the survey in Course content by clicking the check box.
  4. All students have access to a Course Survey unless restrictions are made. The Access Control tab can be used to set restrictions based on your user list and preset roles.
  5. The Dependent Release tab allows you to release a Course Survey based upon the completion of set criteria. For example, you can set the survey to be released (become available) once a user has scored at least an 80% on an exam or submitted a particular assignment.
  6. Surveys can be linked to the Gradebook using the Gradebook tab. Only those users who are gradable (Users/Students) will be scored for the Survey. All others in the course will be ignored. 

    Only Course surveys can be linked to the Gradebook. Public and Protected surveys cannot be linked to the Gradebook because they allow submissions via link.

  7. On the Gradebook tab there are two ways to link the survey to the Gradebook. When you click the tab you are first given the option of creating a new Gradebook assignment. To create a new Gradebook assignment you will need to define the following:
    • Maximum Points – Setting a number of maximum points is mandatory even if you do not want to include the survey grade in the total grade calculation. You must enter points here in order to create a Gradebook assignment but it is not mandatory to use these points in grade calculations.
    • Gradebook Group – If the Gradebook is Grouped than you must use the drop down menu to choose which group the survey will appear in within the Gradebook. If the Gradebook is not grouped then this will not be an option.
    • Is Used in Calculations – Uncheck this box to exclude the survey grade from the final grade calculations. This will only create a Gradebook assignment if your Gradebook is grouped. If the Gradebook is ungrouped then you will need to assign a maximum number of points in order to create the Gradebook assignment. The points are not calculated but are still mandatory so you may enter a random number.
    • Is Extra Credit – Survey grades can be added to the Gradebook as Extra Credit instead of a regular graded assignment by clicking this checkbox. The ‘Is Used in Calculations’ box must be checked in order to include the survey as extra credit.
  8. You may also link the survey to the Gradebook by selecting an already existing assignment from the Gradebook. The assignment must have been created from within the Gradebook beforehand. To do this, choose “Attach to existing gradebook assignment” from the drop down menu and use the Gradebook Assignment drop down menu to select the assignment you wish to link the survey to.
  9. You can also detach a survey from the Gradebook on the Gradebook tab. Click on “Detach from Gradebook” and then click the check box and submit to do this. This option is only available for surveys linked to the Gradebook.

    If you detach a survey from the Gradebook the assignment will still remain in the Gradebook but will be unattached. You will need to delete the Assignment from the Gradebook itself to fully remove it. See the Gradebook Help pages to learn more on how to do this.