Boosting Survey Engagement with Qualtrics LTI: Insights from the University of Sunderland

For the University of Sunderland, improving course evaluations has been a major focus over the past two years. Their previous process was inefficient – time-consuming for staff and difficult for students to access – leading to low engagement and limited feedback. During a recent webinar, Adam Duell, Senior Learning Technologist at Sunderland, shared how they tackled these challenges by integrating Qualtrics LTI with Canvas LMS. The result? A phenomenal 177% increase in non-mandatory survey response rates. Here’s how they did it – plus five best practices that can help your institution boost course evaluation engagement.

The Challenge: Low Engagement and Inefficient Processes

Before adopting Qualtrics LTI, Sunderland relied on in-house systems like SITS and eVision to distribute course evaluations. Surveys were sent via email, but the process was inefficient – distribution took up to 10 hours every six weeks, systems frequently timed out, and students often missed notifications. As a result, response rates were lower than expected, making it difficult to gather meaningful feedback.

The Solution: Embedding Qualtrics Surveys Directly in Canvas LMS

Adam and his team needed a solution that would streamline distribution, improve engagement, and reduce workload. The university already had licenses for Qualtrics surveys and Canvas LMS, where students spend most of their time. To simplify survey distribution and increase participation, they explored ways to bring Qualtrics surveys into Canvas. That’s when they discovered Qualtrics LTI, an integration developed by Drieam to seamlessly embed Qualtrics surveys into Canvas LMS. With Qualtrics LTI, Qualtrics surveys are placed within the trusted environment that Canvas LMS offers. By using Qualtrics surveys directly in Canvas LMS, the institution’s staff can gather data-driven insights at all stages of the learning journey. Distributing Qualtrics surveys in Canvas eliminates the need for students to leave their learning environment, making the course evaluation process faster, more convenient, and an integral part of the learning experience.

Five Best Practices for Improving Survey Engagement

To ensure students and instructors stay informed about surveys, Sunderland used Canvas global announcements to send scheduled reminders.

“We use various interventions for both students and lecturers to increase engagement with our surveys. At the start of an academic year, I can already schedule reminders for lecturers to publish their midpoint and endpoint surveys and to inform students in a timely manner with a message in Canvas. We have also made publishing the surveys a mandatory part of our course audits. This has led to our academics adhering to that requirement more closely. Finally, we have asked lecturers to mention the surveys in their lectures and to allow a short time for them at the end of a lecture.”

– Adam Duell, Senior Learning Technologist

Hear directly from Adam Duell about how Sunderland uses Canvas global announcements to boost survey visibility. Check out the video snippet below to get a quick insight into their approach:

Through the “Being, Belonging, Becoming” initiative, Sunderland deployed an early survey in all first-year courses, identifying students at risk of dropping out. Qualtrics LTI facilitated gathering real-time feedback from students to make interventions quickly.

“We’ve conducted another project using Qualtrics LTI called ‘Being, Belonging and Becoming.’. At our university, we have several Faculty Academic Support Leads (FASL’s), who are responsible for intervening with students if required. They identified that three to seven weeks of study is the period where student dropout is most likely to occur. So we included a survey into all year one modules, just to check-in with our newest students. About 8% of our respondents expressed concern that they were actually going to consider withdrawing. The FASL’s then interfered and had follow-up conversations with them. We were able to retain the vast majority of those students and improve their well-being.”

– Adam Duell, Senior Learning Technologist

In the snippet, Adam Duell explains how Sunderland used targeted intervention surveys to identify at-risk students early in their academic journey. Watch the video to hear how they implemented the ‘Being, Belonging, Becoming’ initiative to support student retention.

The first year of using Qualtrics LTI led to a 177% increase in non-mandatory survey response rates – growing from 5.229 to 14.262 responses. By sharing these results internally, Sunderland built momentum and encouraged broader adoption across the university.

“In our first year, we realised a growth in our response rates of almost 180%. We’d hoped our response rates would double, but to nearly triple was an amazing result, thanks to the Qualtrics integration with Canvas. It’s not only able to make our own lives easier, but it also makes it easier for our students to actually find and fill out the surveys. There’s no loss of communication anywhere and because we have more data, it also becomes easier to intervene. It’s important to share these within the institution to create some sort of snowball effect.”

– Adam Duell, Senior Learning Technologist

In this snippet, Adam Duell highlights how Sunderland achieved a remarkable 177% increase in non-mandatory survey responses. Watch the snippet to see how sharing these success metrics internally encouraged broader adoption across the university.

Sunderland embedded Qualtrics surveys into course templates, ensuring every course included evaluations without manual setup. Using Qualtrics LTI’s bulk distribution feature, they were able to schedule and distribute surveys across all Canvas courses in just minutes, saving over 100 hours of staff time per year.

“We use the bulk distribution feature that the Qualtrics LTI offers, which means that we can distribute a survey that is designed in Qualtrics in all Canvas courses that we select. It is incredibly efficient and effective. We review our surveys every year in April and then publish them to all courses from the upcoming academic year around June. This way we’ve created our own sort of distribution method that saved a lot of time, errors, and effort.”

– Adam Duell, Senior Learning Technologist

After the first year of using Qualtrics LTI, the university formed a user group composed of academics and staff to refine the survey questions. By adjusting the question phrasing, Sunderland reduced survey length by 30%, making it easier for students to complete course evaluations while still capturing valuable insights.

“Some of our survey questions were written in a way that was more suitable for academics compared to students. Also, a lot of students at our diverse university might not have English as their native language. That’s why we decided to form a user group with students assessing our questions. By just changing the wording, we were able to conflate the survey by 30%. The group members actually got a sense of empowerment and responsibility from that as well.”

– Adam Duell, Senior Learning Technologist

The Results: More Responses, Less Work

By integrating Qualtrics LTI with Canvas and applying these five best practices, the University of Sunderland saw a significant increase in student engagement. Response rates jumped by nearly 180% for non-mandatory course evaluations, in just one academic year. With more students participating, the university was able to gather valuable insights to enhance the learning experience and make data-driven improvements. Sunderland’s success highlights the impact of embedding surveys directly into students’ learning environments and using targeted strategies to drive engagement.

Want to dive deeper into Sunderland’s success story and learn their five best practices for boosting survey engagement? Watch the full session, ‘Driving Impact with Data: Leveraging Canvas LMS and Qualtrics LTI to Boost Engagement, Response Rates, and Retention” where Adam explains the entire journey and how you can apply these strategies at your institution.”