WordPress+Qualtrics: A Plugin Supporting Research and New Pedagogy to Develop Personal Sustainability via 360° Evaluation

Fostering deep and meaningful self-reflection that leads to action, growth, and personal change among students challenges professors of large classes. Over 280 students in a single lecture course on critical thinking were asked to take part in a selfanalysis and also were provided multisource (360°) feedback. The combination of personalized feedback from the self and from known others appears to facilitate processes related to self-insight and developmental goal setting. This pedagogical approach would not have been possible without the development of software integrating WordPress, a popular, free, opensource content management system (CMS), with Qualtrics, an online survey tool. This paper describes how this technology served both as a pedagogical tool, as well as a research tool.