I was interested in the overview in the THES in its article
Efforts to secure feedback 'missing the mark' of the
"Effective Course Evaluation Report" - The report found that:
- Many universities seeking feedback on courses and lecturers via surveys struggle to achieve a meaningful response from students.
- Student representatives have indicated that students are not
effectively engaged in the feedback process and, for some, providing
feedback can even be intimidating.
- Universities need to work harder at feeding back to students the actions they will
be taking as a result of input provided for course and lecturer evaluation surveys.
- End-of-module evaluation is a particular stumbling block in the
provision of feedback to students - and feedback can be slow - but
moving to mid-module evaluation can help to improve the process.
- Ideally students want the opportunity to express their views on
course improvements at a time that their feedback benefits them
directly.
- Universities need to embrace new technologies to improve turnaround
time - but effective feedback can be gained via a combination of paper
and online surveys.
- Universities should establish a more consistent (centralised)
approach to survey administration - including a standard set of survey
questions - to enable effective benchmarking at course and institutional
level.
- In-class student involvement in survey administration can increase commitment as they are stakeholders in the process.
Looking at these observations, I think the following are particularly important:
- the move to mid module evaluation
- the involvement of students in survey administration
- more effective feedback on feedback
- the need to embrace new technologies
I think technology enhanced learning has something to offer here, with respect to course design and digital literacies. If evaluation feedback was integrated into course design this would establish a more proactive approach to gathering students's thoughts, if student's were involved in designing and delivering this process there is an opportunity here to develop their digital literacies, with respect to designing evaluative activities in an online environment whether this be surveys or qualitative approaches. However, my only concern is that focusing on a more centralised approach to survey administration may create a tension and may be slightly incongruous with this personalised approach, may be we need to be more creative with respect to coding feedback and establishing benchmarks.
