How can I post an anonymous survey?
From BbWiki
Instructors can use the Blackboard survey tool to gather anonymous responses.
To create an online survey, go to Control Panel > Survey Manager and build the set of questions (essay, true/false, multiple choice, etc.)
To make the survey available to students, go to any content area (Course Documents, etc.) in the control panel and in the upper right corner, pull down the Select menu and choose 'Survey', then click the GO button. You'll see a list of surveys you've created -- pick the one you want and click Submit.
Once you've added the Survey to the content area, modify the survey options to make the link available to students. Students can then click into the content area and launch the survey.
Student responses are gathered anonymously in the Blackboard gradebook and can be downloaded into a spreadsheet or text file. A check mark is registered in the gradebook when the student completes the survey which gives a nice way to keep track of response rates. If the student has started, but not submitted a survey, this will appear as a lock symbol in the gradebook. Once the responses are in, click the header of the gradebook column to access the download tools.
Is the survey truly anonymous? When the student completes the survey, that is noted as a checkmark in the gradebook. Responses for each student are reported as a single line in the download file, but the order of the lines (students) is random. The student name or ID is never shown directly in conjunction with their responses. If only one or a few students have responded, the instructor could deductively pin a student to a response, but in practice, this doesn't seem to be a big concern.
One "gotcha" for students is that they have two buttons at the end of the survey -- one called Save and the other called Submit. The Save button will save a draft while they work in order to protect them in case the power goes out, etc. Advise students to use this, but also make sure they hit Submit when they're ready to finalize things.
CAUTION: Do not use the "ORDERING" or "FILE UPLOAD" question type in a survey. These types require access to individual student records in order to view the responses. This is possible in an exam format, but not in the survey format.
