What is Blue and how do course evaluations work?
Blue is a confidential course evaluation system by eXplorance. It was launched at Tufts in 2016, and is in use in all schools across the university.
You can access the Blue course evaluation system through the 'Course Evaluations' link on the left side navigation of any Canvas course, or via https://tufts.bluera.com/tufts.
The first step of the course evaluation process is the customization period, which is when instructors are invited (but not required) to add customized questions to the end of the standard form. This step happens at some, but not all, schools across the university. Instructors are alerted via email notification.
The second step of the process is the evaluation period, which is when students submit their feedback on the evaluation forms (instructors are also invited to monitor response rates during the evaluation period and encourage student participation). Students and instructors are alerted via email notification. For AS&E, announcements are also posted in Canvas.
The third step of the process is the reporting period, which is when instructors are invited to view the evaluation reports. Instructors are alerted via email notification.
Current year reports are on the 'current' tab in Blue. Reports from a previous year (less than five years old) live on the 'archived' tab. Reports are never deleted from Blue, but older reports (more than five years old) are being migrated to an expired state - please reach out for assistance in downloading those reports.
The data in the Blue course evaluation system comes from SIS. All updates to courses/instructors should be made in that system and the updates will flow to Blue.
Blue is used differently by different members of the Tufts community -- learn more from each of these guides: