Evaluation

Formal Unit Evaluation Mechanisms

The University requires, or at least seeks, feedback from students for each unit. Until this year (2007-08) we used a paper questionnaire (see Feedback Form link), which the lecturer would take into the classroom, distribute to students, and collect in the same session. The questionnaire was anonymous, although obviously anonymity would depend on the number of students present and completing the questionnaire. This process had the advantage of achieving good response rates if the lecturer remembered to take the questionnaires into a well-attended session, and if students were confident that the completed questionnaires could be returned without identifying them.

My practice was always to distribute the forms at the beginning of a lecture, and ask students to leave the forms in a pile by the door at the end of the class, making the process as anonymous as possible for them.

The university has implemented a new mechanism for unit evaluation this year (2007-08), making the questionnaire available only on-line. There are concerns about how good the response rates will be, and about students experiencing 'survey fatigue'. Initial experience suggests that the response rates have been very low, despite the offer of a prize draw for students completing feed-back forms for all their units.

The questionnaire is, in any event, of limited use for lecturers, particularly where a year-long unit is taught in sections by different members of staff, as is the case with the unit under discussion here. (My HCI course is the first half of a full-year unit.) In addition a number of the questions deal with resourcing issues (teaching accommodation, library provision) which are not within the control of academic staff, and where student comments are never apparently addressed.

Nevertheless the free text comments do provide interesting and sometimes useful insights, although it is always difficult to gauge to what extent they represent broader student opinion.

General Student Feedback Mechanisms

More general student feed-back is obtained from the formal committee structures of the department and faculty, which do have student presence, but again it is difficult to ensure that comments are representative of broader student opinion.

Peer Evaluation

The University runs a Peer Observation Scheme, which expects all academics to participate in POS at least once each academic year. The process is intended to be informal, collegiate and developmental in nature, but its actual impact and implementation varies across the University.

One of the most useful aspects of this Disciplinary Commons process has been the Commons Peer Observations. I have been observed by two commons colleagues, once for a lecture and once for a workshop. In addition, I have visited and observed one colleague. Apart from the benefit and interest inherent in visiting other institutions and getting a broader perspective, the POS process itself and feed-back received has been very interesting and beneficial. I have got good new ideas from my observee, and have received useful pointers from my observers, as well as confidence-boosting praise.