How students and staff perceive course evaluations and engage with class reps

Beekman, E., Brown, K., Olowe, E., Callum, M. and Mair, C. (2024) How students and staff perceive course evaluations and engage with class reps. 17th Annual University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Conference, Glasgow, UK, 9th April 2024.

Abstract

The University’s Learning and Teaching strategy asks us to create in-class learning opportunities that focus students more fully on understanding and engagement with learning material and feedback. Literature suggests that it can be difficult to engage students with feedback and this may have an impact on their learning. However, feedback is a process that requires engagement on the part of a student and teacher. Carless and Winstone (2020) provide a partnership framework that outlines the shared responsibility of both staff and students in the feedback process. While a feedback-literate lecturer can design opportunities, deliver supportive and constructive feedback, and navigate the multiple dimensions of the purpose of feedback. A feedback-literate student can appreciate, evaluate, and act on feedback and work with emotions productively. Student evaluations provide the opportunity for students to provide their feedback to a lecturer, they are a direct form of communication and may be a first point of contact early on in a teaching semester. Most importantly, they provide an opportunity for staff to illustrate how to appreciate, evaluate and act on feedback and for students to provide supportive and constructive feedback. Honours level students and staff from the School of Mathematics and Statistics were asked to complete online anonymous surveys to understand their perceptions and engagement with course evaluations (17% and 70% response rates respectively). While students expressed that their feedback could improve content, quality and delivery and provide a learning opportunity for lecturers and while staff implement the feedback they receive, students currently do not see it, and their learning may not benefit from being part of this process.   20% of student respondents indicated that they didn’t know who their class representatives were, while only 17% said they would tell their class representative if they had an issue with a course, or a suggestion to improve it. During a focus group, of around 20 level 3 students, a further emphasis was placed on students not knowing how their feedback was acted on and inconsistencies between courses led students to believe that their feedback had no impact. Class representatives indicated that they felt under-supported in their role and often found it difficult to contact students. In addition to more support for class representatives, students indicated a preference for informal forms of feedback, that lecturers could respond to and action in real-time, for example, feedback opportunities throughout the semester that lecturers could respond to in person. We believe this process would allow students more agency in learning.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mair, Dr Colette and Beekman, Miss Emma
• Authors: Beekman, E., Brown, K., Olowe, E., Callum, M., and Mair, C.
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General)
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Mathematics and Statistics

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