Responding to USE student feedback - Letting students know that we value their feedback
It is important to let students know that we value their feedback and that we consider it when planning our teaching. This website provides some examples of how you can respond to student feedback and outlines a simple way of communicating your response to the students who gave the feedback.
1. Collecting student feedback
The 8 standard items of the USE ask about important aspects of the student experience of teaching and learning. Effective efforts to address the issues identified in the survey should be reflected in improvements in the quality of student learning. Such outcomes should also be reflected in improved ratings on other measures of the quality of the student experience such as the SCEQ factor scales and the University's teaching performance indicators in general.
Staff of the Institute for Teaching and Learning are available to support unit of study coordinators and Deans or Program Directors in interpreting the results of their Unit of Study evaluations and in planning improvements on the basis of the results.
As well as student feedback, Unit of Study Coordinators should consider feedback from other sources and their own insights as teachers. You may find the following guidelines useful when interpreting USE data.
Once you have considered the USE data and any other sources of feedback on the unit, the university encourages you to 'close the loop' by letting students know that you have considered their feedback on the unit. An easy way to communicate your response is to email students using the University of Sydney online timetable all-student email service. Details and examples can be found here.
2. Reflect on the student feedback
Consult the guidelines for interpreting data from the survey employed (e.g. Making use of data from Unit of Study Evaluations) and reflect on the student feedback received. Reflect also on your own impressions, feedback from colleagues, the goals of the unit and the student learning outcomes in order to compose a response to students. Some examples of responses to students are below. Your response can also be used when reporting within the faculty and a revised version could be used in your Unit of Study Outline, in the section on Student feedback and evaluation.
3. Communicate your response to your students.
An easy way is to email students using the University of Sydney online timetable all-student email service:
- Go to http://web.timetable.usyd.edu.au
- Enter the unit of study code and the required semester
- Click on the link 'email all enrolled students'
- Compose a message to students. A copy will be sent to your university email account.
You may also wish to place the information on the appropriate Faculty or Departmental website or in your Learning Management System (e.g. webCT or Blackboard).
Here are some examples of how you can respond to student feedback
School of Information Technologies
As well as summarising student and tutor feedback, the School of Information Technology example discusses the students’ learning outcomes. The summary of student performance on the final exam is particularly valuable, as it’s an assessment on which students rarely receive feedback. Taken together, these sources of information provide a holistic picture of what occurred in the unit and what changes will be made as a result. Go to example.
Faculty of Education and Social Work
The Education and Social Work example considers students’ feedback on a particular unit of study with an emphasis on the students’ comments. The unit coordinator leaves the option open for students to contact him and in fact received several emails from students thanking him for considering their feedback e.g. It’s nice to see that our feedback has actually been considered and that there has been some re-structuring for the subject as result. Go to example.
History Department
The example from the History department reports the number of students who responded to the evaluation and provides the unit coordinator’s responses to the summaries of student comments. Go to example.
School of Business
The Faculty of Economics and Business has a webpage on making use of student feedback. It includes ideas on possible changes you may wish to make in response to specific items on the Unit of Study Evaluation. Go to example
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For further information
Please contact Keith Trigwell