Collecting and using student feedback Date: A guide to good practice

The purpose of this Guide is to help higher education institutions make the best use of their student feedback. This guide is based on a HEFCE funded project undertaken by the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information (CHERI). The purpose of this Guide is to help higher education institutions make the best use of their student feedback. All institutions collect feedback from their students and in many different forms. They use it to improve the quality of the education they provide. In recent years, there has been a shift in the balance between informal and formal types of student feedback with a greater emphasis on the latter. Now, new devolved forms of national quality assurance promise to give an important role to students and there is also an expectation that information from student feedback will be used to inform the choices of students when applying to higher education. Thus, as the importance attached to student feedback increases, ensuring that feedback is collected effectively and used wisely becomes an increasing priority for higher education institutions. This Guide draws on the experiences of the sector to highlight some of the good practices that exist as well as some of the problems that institutions are experiencing in using student feedback. Its focus is upon the use of student feedback for the purpose of enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. Other purposes are acknowledged but are not the main emphasis of this publication

A report on the ULTRLAB's development of online components in NCSL programmes

This report is one of two produced by ULTRALAB forthe National College of School Leadership (NCSL). Here we discuss the research and development of online components of two NCSL programmes. The other report looks at the Talking Heads project, an online community for Headteachers in England. This report considers our work on two NCSL programmes. The new model National Qualification for Headship (NPQH) had its first cohort of learners in March 2001. ULTRALAB was involved in consultancy with the DfES, the writers of the programme materials and the ten regional training providers, in setting up the online elements from September 2000. The online community aspects of NPQH were established using think.com software, with the name Virtual Heads chosen for the overarching national community. The pilot for the Certificate of School Business Management started in February 2002. Our involvement here was to develop the online community and support the tutors in its use.The online community aspects were established using think.com software, with the name Bursars’ Count chosen for the overarching national community

Chapter 5: Evaluation

The OTiS (Online Teaching in Scotland) programme, run by the now defunct Scotcit programme, ran an International e-Workshop on Developing Online Tutoring Skills which was held between 8–12 May 2000. It was organised by Heriot–Watt University, Edinburgh and The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. Out of this workshop came the seminal Online Tutoring E-Book, a generic primer on e-learning pedagogy and methodology, full of practical implementation guidelines. Although the Scotcit programme ended some years ago, the E-Book has been copied to the SONET site as a series of PDF files, which are now available via the ALT Open Access Repository. The editor, Carol Higgison, is currently working in e-learning at the University of Bradford (see her staff profile) and is the Chair of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)

The Tutor's Role

This chapter addresses three questions about being an effective online tutor: 1. Why do we still think that online tutoring can principally draw its basis from face-to-face group processes and dynamics or traditional pedagogy? 2. Does the literature tell us anything more than we would make as an intelligent guess? 3. Do we really know what an ‘effective’ online tutor would be doing? The OTiS participants have gone some way to answering these questions, through the presentation and discussion of their own online tutoring experiences. Literature in this area is still limited, and suffers from the need for timeliness of publication to be useful. Intelligent guesses are all very well, but much better as a source of information for online tutors are the reflections and documented experiences of practitioners. These experiences reveal that face-to-face pedagogy has some elements to offer the online tutor, but that there are key differences and there is a need to examine the processes and dynamics of online learning to inform online tutoring

Student-centred quality improvement systems in manufacturing engineering higher education

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Recent changes within British higher education have led to a refocus as to the purpose of such education. This movement has been particularly noticeable in the engineering disciplines. These changes have involved a move towards a more 'transformational' objective, where the emphasis is on the development of the full range of learning abilities within a student coupled with an external, or 'real world', orientation. To develop such learning abilities requires specific educational approaches that are based on student-centred processes and the preparation for lifelong learning. This new purpose, and its inherent educational methods, has implications for the type of quality improvement systems adopted. Robust approaches developed in manufacturing industries have been identified, and the thesis argues that quality systems based on developments in these industries can be used in higher education to create a culture that engenders this positive learning approach. This involves a move away from passive, quantitative quality monitoring systems that focus on the 'product' of learning, and move towards more qualitative, active and dynamic department-wide quality improvement systems that focus on the developmental 'process'. Traditional methods of addressing quality in higher education departments can be seen to focus on rudimentary control mechanisms, where action is post-process and reactive, and where the feedback loop often not closed, i.e. preventative and corrective actions, when identified, are not initiated. Such approaches add very little to the purpose of higher education (i.e. developing the range of 'transformational' learning abilities), as there is an overemphasis on evaluation and not enough emphasis on enhancement, development and preparation for continuous learning. The main thesis, therefore, links learning theory to quality theory, via the concepts of development cycles, lifelong learning and continuous improvement. To ascertain the validity of the theses required a research methodology that was based on an in-depth longitudinal action/applied research case study. The research involved a three and a half year study of the quality improvement systems of a manufacturing engineering department of a British university. The research introduced and investigated a strategy that would result in a move from the 'post-process/passive' student involvement to 'in-process/ active'. The case study found that the thesis was valid, in that particular students and members of staff adopted the quality improvement system (i.e. a change in observable behaviour). The contribution to knowledge involves the examination of the interaction between departmental culture and systems, where a 'cultural shift' is necessary involving (i) a change in the role of the undergraduate student (i.e. from passive members in the process, to central participants in the creation and improvement of quality), and (ii) a change in the focus of quality (i.e. from checking that learning was taken place, to promoting and preparing students for lifelong learning).Funding was obtained from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

An evaluation of the effectiveness of social equity strategies for Maori students in the School of Science and Technology

In 1991 the School of Science and Technology (SOSAT) at the University of Waikato had a very low participation rate of Maori and students from other non-dominant ethnic groups. This situation was serious enough to concerned the then Dean of the School and strategies were developed to change this situation. Four major strategies are used to encourage, support and retain Maori students to successfully pursue and complete a degree in Science. They are: the Te Putahi o te Manawa programme - a mentoring programme; a scholarship and grant writing strategy (in particular assistance with Tuapapa Putaiao Maori Fellowships(TPMFs) administered by FRST); school visits; and field trips with secondary schools in the Waikato region that have a high proportion of Maori students. The Maori & Psychology Research Unit (MPRU) was contracted by Gary Bramley of the Equity Office of the SOSAT to conduct this evaluation. Evaluative information was gathered through administering questionnaires, completing key informant interviews, and completing focus group interviews. In this evaluation we sought to determine the effectiveness of the social equity strategies for Maori students in the SOSAT at the University of Waikato

Te Rau Puawai 2002-2004: An evaluation

Established in 1999 as a joint workforce initiative between the former Health Funding Authority and Massey University, Te Rau Puawai aimed to support 100 Maori students to graduate with mental health qualifications within a five year period. The goal of Te Rau Puawai is to contribute to the building of capacity for Maori in the mental health workforce. The programme exceeded its performance expectations in the first two years (1999-2001) with 56 bursars completing their qualifications. Bursars achieved an 80% pass rate compared with 65% for all students at Massey University as a whole. In 2004, this pass rate has continued, a significant achievement in light of increasing numbers of bursars being accepted and many without previously studying at the tertiary level. In 2001 the Maori & Psychology Research Unit (MPRU) at the University of Waikato undertook an evaluation of Te Rau Puawai reporting on the programme's success and identifying any barriers the programme needed to address. The 2002 evaluation report outlines critical success factors and recommendations for improvement. In 2003 Te Rau Puawai negotiated further funding from the Mental Health Directorate (MeHD) of the Ministry of Health under the Mental Health Workforce Development Strategy (2002). Workforce development is critical in building capacity and capability in the mental health workforce to increase appropriately skilled workers required to meet the mental health needs of Maori communities. In 2004 the Ministry of Health requested a follow-up evaluation to provide a descriptive record of programme activities and progress from April 2002 to December 2004. This report provides an overview of Te Rau Puawai activities between 2002 and 2004; the progress and contributions made by bursars to the mental health workforce; and a reassessment of the programme's critical success factors