Student and staff perceptions of student evaluations

Mair, C. (2023) Student and staff perceptions of student evaluations. Project Report. University of Glasgow. (Unpublished)

Abstract

While student evaluations are embedded into higher education, there is debate surrounding the reliability, effectiveness, and bias of such evaluations. Other studies have indicated that feedback from students may not be appropriately taken seriously due to interpretation concerns and a lack of ownership of feedback from both staff and students. This may be attributable to staff less likely to act on their feedback and students being sceptical of the value of providing feedback, which is reflected in the NSS response data surrounding the student voice. There is evidence in the literature to suggest that students want to engage with the evaluation process but suggest that the evaluation process can be re-framed into a staff-student partnership where both staff and students work together to improve learning and teaching in a more collaborative way. The University of Glasgow currently implements a course evaluation policy with set requirements for collecting student evaluations from all courses through a questionnaire with set core questions in addition to a Staff-Student Liaison Committee in conjunction with the Student Representative Council. The initial aim of this project was to investigate additional resources that may be used to better engage staff and students with student evaluations. The results of this project illustrate a clear breakdown of the feedback process and although they were not surprising, they do indicate a need for a change in attitude and behaviours towards student evaluations. The results suggest that incorporating an informal and conversational approach to course evaluations can create a more inclusive learning environment for students and staff and exemplify an effective feedback process. A secondary outcome of this project was in relation to working with class representatives. Class representatives indicated that they felt under-supported in their roles and students indicated that they often felt uncomfortable sharing personal details or issues with another student. This project aligns with the L&T strategy through co-creating student-centred learning activities and creating inclusive learning environments.

• Item Type: Research Reports or Papers (Project Report)
• Status: Unpublished
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mair, Dr Colette
• Authors: Mair, C.
• Subjects: L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Mathematics and Statistics > Statistics
• Publisher: University of Glasgow
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © University of Glasgow 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the author