Strengthening internal quality assurance processes: facilitating student evaluation committees to contribute

Student evaluation committees play a crucial role in internal quality assurance processes as representatives of the student body. However, the students on these committees sometimes experience difficulty in providing constructive and structured feedback to faculty in an environment characterised by a strong power differential between student and staff. This study aimed to evaluate a leadership and quality assurance training implemented for students involved in internal quality assurance. Furthermore, we explored how students give shape to their internal quality assurance role. Students from three health sciences programmes participated in a mixed methods study to evaluate the training and reflect on their internal quality assurance role. Overall, the students were very enthusiastic about the training. Qualitative data analysis indicated that in their internal quality assurance role, students: (1) harnessed the power of the entire student population; (2) tried to create focus and take charge; (3) searched for a common ground with staff, and (4) they explained how they dealt with the power differential. Providing training for students with internal quality assurance roles is a valuable endeavour. Future research needs to investigate further ways to help students to contribute to internal quality assurance processes in higher education.     

Instruments for obtaining student feedback: a review of the literature

This paper reviews the research evidence concerning the use of formal instruments to measure students’ evaluations of their teachers, students’ satisfaction with their programmes and students’ perceptions of the quality of their programmes. These questionnaires can provide important evidence for assessing the quality of teaching, for supporting attempts to improve the quality of teaching and for informing prospective students about the quality of course units and programmes. The paper concludes by discussing several issues affecting the practical utility of the instruments that can be used to obtain student feedback. Many students and teachers believe that student feedback is useful and informative, but for a number of reasons many teachers and institutions do not take student feedback sufficiently seriously.     

Assessment as an equity issue in higher education: comparing the perceptions of first year students, course coordinators, and academic leaders

Assessment practices that aim to promote both quality and equity may be compromised in a higher education market where students are consumers and grades the currency exchanged for measures of success. In such a climate, academics report feeling pressured to make course content and assessment less challenging in order to obtain positive student evaluations, and they may lose faith in university quality assurance processes that seem focused on ensuring student satisfaction with education as a product. To explore these issues from the perspectives of the main stakeholders in assessment, this paper investigates assessment perceptions of students, course coordinators, and faculty Associate Deans responsible for teaching and learning at The University of Queensland. The findings highlight differences in what these groups consider to be important assessment issues and differences in how they should be addressed. First year students are identified as a disadvantaged group due to perceptions of the role of feedback and formative assessment that may be influenced by their secondary school assessment experiences.     

Characterising programme‐level assessment environments that support learning

This article outlines a methodology for characterising features of programme‐level assessment environments so that the relationship between features of the assessment environment and students’ learning response can be studied. The methodology was developed through the detailed case study of nine undergraduate degree programmes: one in each of three contrasting discipline areas in each of three contrasting universities. Each case study involved examination of course documentation, interviews with academics and interviews with students, following which each degree programme was coded in relation to a range of features of the assessment environment, such as the proportion of marks derived from examinations and the volume and timeliness of feedback on assignments. Programmes were found to differ profoundly in terms of variables that are known to have implications for student‐learning processes. They also differed widely in the extent to which they illustrated the application of conventional wisdom about curriculum design, embodied in national quality assurance guidelines and the Bologna Agreement. Programmes were found to have either a high volume of summative assessment or a high volume of formative‐only assessment, but never both at the same time. Programmes also differed in the mechanisms used to make goals and standards clear, having either highly explicit curriculum design or high volumes of written and oral feedback, but never both at the same time. The findings suggest that there are distinctive programme‐level assessment environments that operate in quite different ways despite all programmes studied being subject to the same quality assurance code of practice.     

Students’ feedback in mid-term surveys: an explorative contribution in the Italian university context

This article focuses on the role of student feedback in the process of higher education quality assurance. The most recent reforms of the educational systems encourage teachers to enlarge their educational paradigm by experimenting with assessment practices that would go behind accountability and be more responsive to students’ learning needs. In Italy, despite the widespread acknowledgment of the role played by students’ feedback in providing information about the outputs of their education, the quality assurance process has remained, thus far, largely unchanged. Student compliance with rather traditional academic teaching practices and a diffused sense of uselessness of the results coming from end-course surveys represent increasing malpractices in the Italian quality assurance system. In view of the above, the article reports an explorative study aimed to develop a mid-term survey for student feedback. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Closing the loop on student feedback: the case of Australian and Scottish universities

Universities have a long history of collecting student feedback using surveys and other mechanisms. The last decade has witnessed a significant shift in how student feedback is systematically collected, analysed, reported, and used by governments and institutions. This shift is due to a number of factors, including changes in government policy related to quality assurance, and the increased use of the results by various stakeholders such as governments, institutions, and potential students and employers. The collection, analysis, and reporting of results are systematically carried out in many institutions worldwide. However, how to use student feedback to effectively improve student learning experience remains an issue to be addressed. This paper will contribute to this debate by comparing how Australian and Scottish universities use student feedback results to inform improvements. Based on thematic analysis of external quality audit reports of all Australian and Scottish universities, this paper suggests that universities have systematic processes to collect student feedback using a range of mechanisms, but limited work is done to use the data to inform improvements. This paper argues the need for universities to genuinely listen to student voice by facilitating partnership between students and institutions to act on their feedback as part of quality assurance.     

Evaluating taught postgraduate awards from the student’s perspective

There is a need for a questionnaire designed specifically to evaluate taught postgraduate (TPg) awards for quality assurance or enhancement purposes. Comparison of undergraduate and TPg awards suggests that as the former have broadened their ambit to better nurture generic graduate attributes, TPg awards have concentrated on advanced specialised knowledge and skills. Those enrolling in TPg programmes are often mature part-time students working in a field associated with the subject studied. A set of interviews with TPg students revealed that they had clear expectations of the knowledge and skills they were expected to acquire from their studies and were able to comment critically on curriculum design. This made it clear that instruments designed for undergraduate degrees would not be suitable. Therefore, a TPg questionnaire was designed based on a model derived from a qualitative study, which adopted a grounded theory approach to collect views from 21 part-time TPg students from seven programmes offered by six institutions in Hong Kong. The conceptual model underpinning the questionnaire design was tested using structural equation modelling. As the results showed a good fit to the data, the validity of the questionnaire was confirmed. Use of the instrument in a routine quality assurance exercise across a university revealed that results from the questionnaire were highly diagnostic, so providing constructive feedback for curriculum reform.     

Perceptions of quality in staff-student written feedback in higher education: a case study

This paper reports on the results of an embedded, multiple case study that investigated the views of both lecturers and students on written staff-student feedback in three postgraduate programmes at one UK university. The study sought to uncover how ‘quality written feedback’ is perceived in the higher education environment under investigation. It found that tutors and students were broadly aligned in the features that they identified as constituting quality, which could be categorised within three dimensions: the affective or interpersonal, the orientational and the transformational. The findings suggest that feedback needs to incorporate each of these dimensions if it is to be perceived as being of good quality.     

Student teachers’ perceptions of feedback as an aid to reflection for developing effective practice in the classroom

Since Schön’s influential work on reflective practice, reflection has been prioritised in teacher education programmes internationally. The research described in this paper examined the development of postgraduate student teachers’ reflective processes in their first school placement. Twenty-five students were asked to write an account of their evolution in an area of their teaching, and how they were supported to evaluate lessons and reflect on their practice. Subsequently, a sample was interviewed to explore themes arising from the essays. In describing their development of a reflective perspective, the students identified useful feedback from three main sources: mentors, peers and pupils. Although the research took place within a Scottish context, the different roles that feedback played in the development of reflection should be of interest to teacher educators and student teachers internationally, as it could be argued that beginning teachers in every country face similar issues relating to reflection.     

The development and validation of the student engagement scale in an Ethiopian university context

This paper is positioned to make a sound contribution to knowledge of higher education (HE) quality through its study of student engagement in a large university in Ethiopia. We establish that the assessment of student engagement is a valid facet in determining HE quality, contributing holistically alongside quality assurance and university rankings. The authors present an example of this through reporting on a statistical analysis of an adjustment of the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement survey and its administration in the Ethiopian university. The results of factor analysis illustrate empirical support for the nine-factor engagement scale and a number of associated factors related to student demographics and university experience. The results of the multi-validation approach provide specific guidelines to universities using this approach to evaluate the validity and reliability of this construct. The paper provides a supporting tool that can be used by other universities to assist in the evaluation of students’ engagement with their undergraduate programmes.     

Master’s thesis projects: student perceptions of supervisor feedback

A growing body of research has investigated student perceptions of written feedback in higher education coursework, but few studies have considered feedback perceptions in one-on-one and face-to-face contexts such as master’s thesis projects. In this article, student perceptions of feedback are explored in the context of the supervision of master’s thesis projects, using review studies with respect to effective feedback in coursework situations. Online questionnaires were administered to collect data from three cohorts of master’s students who were either working on their thesis or had recently finished it (N?=?1016). The results of the study indicate that students perceive the focus of feedback in terms of a focus on task and self-regulation; they perceive the goal-relatedness of feedback in terms of feed up (goal-setting) and feed back-forward (how am I going and where to next?); and elaboration of feedback is perceived in terms of positive and negative feedback. Furthermore, students that perceive the feedback to be positive, and to provide information on how they are going and what next steps to take, are the most satisfied with their supervision and perceive they are learning most from their supervisor. The findings are discussed in relation to findings in coursework settings, and are explained using goal orientation theories.     

Bursaries and Student Success: a Study of Students from Low-Income Groups at Two Institutions in the South West

This article draws on quantitative and qualitative data from two institutions to compare the student experience of those with and without bursary awards. Using the student life cycle model, the article examines the ways in which bursaries impact on the student experience before they enter the institution, in the early weeks of their studies and as they progress through their programmes. At these two institutions, students with bursaries were more likely to be retained and to perform well during the first year than those without bursaries. The study found that bursaries can ease financial pressures during their transition to higher education (HE) and that institution‐specific bursaries can affect students’ perceptions of an institution and their commitment to succeed. After 2006, those institutions wishing to charge variable fees will be required to provide bursary support for low‐income students. The findings from this article suggest that HE providers should consider the timing of the bursary payments and the implicit message the bursary sends to applicants if they want to ensure that their bursaries have a positive impact on the student experience.     

To do or not to do with feedback. A study of undergraduate students’ engagement and use of feedback within a portfolio assessment design

Feedback is important for student learning; however, research shows that students can have a number of difficulties when attempting to learn from feedback. Based on an in-depth analysis of undergraduate students’ self-reported reflection logs, we present findings about students’ experiences with oral and written feedback and how they act upon this feedback when a portfolio is the main assessment and learning tool. Our findings indicate that, within our context, students’ overall experiences with receiving feedback are positive. Oral feedback was perceived as particularly valuable to the students while written feedback challenged their understanding. We identified four specific actions the students engaged in to create meaning from the feedback: internal feedback, using oral feedback, initiating dialogue and interacting with peers. The findings indicate that the students take responsibility in the feedback process. The findings are discussed in relation to current perspectives on feedback in higher education.     

Assessment training effects on student assessment skills and task performance in a technology-facilitated peer assessment

This study examines the impact of an assessment training module on student assessment skills and task performance in a technology-facilitated peer assessment. Seventy-eight undergraduate students participated in the study. The participants completed an assessment training exercise, prior to engaging in peer-assessment activities. During the training, students reviewed learning concepts, discussed marking criteria, graded example projects and compared their evaluations with the instructor’s evaluation. Data were collected in the form of initial and final versions of students’ projects, students’ scoring of example projects before and after the assessment training, and written feedback that students provided on peer projects. Results of data analysis indicate that the assessment training led to a significant decrease in the discrepancy between student ratings and instructor rating of example projects. In addition, the degree of student vs. instructor discrepancy was highly predictive of the quality of feedback that students provided to their peers and the effectiveness of revisions that they made to their own projects upon receiving peer feedback. Smaller discrepancies in ratings were associated with provision of higher quality peer feedback during peer assessment, as well as better revision of initial projects after peer assessment.     

How accurately can students evaluate the quality of self-generated examples of declarative concepts? Not well,and feedback does not help

Students are commonly asked to learn declarative concepts in many courses. One strategy students report using involves generating concrete examples of abstract concepts. If students have difficulties evaluating the quality of their generated examples, then instructors will need to provide students with appropriate scaffolds or feedback to improve judgmentaccuracy. No prior research has investigated if students can accurately evaluate the quality of the examples they generate, which was the first aim of the current research. The second aim of this research was to investigate the extent to which providing feedback while students evaluate their generated examples can improve the accuracy of their example-quality judgments. In two experiments, students generated examples for declarative concepts from social psychology and then judged the quality of their examples. When making judgments, students received no feedback (in which they were only given the key term), full definition feedback (in which they were shown the definition of the declarative concept) or idea unit feedback (in which they first evaluated if they represented each idea unit of the definition within their example). Outcomes showed that students were overconfident when judging the quality of their examples, specifically for commission errors (i.e., examples that were entirely incorrect). Surprisingly, full definition and idea unit feedback did not help students improve the accuracy of their example-quality judgments. Thus, until scaffolds are discovered to reduce student overconfidence, instructors will need to assist in evaluating generated examples as students use this strategy to learn declarative concepts.     

Feedback on feedback practice: perceptions of students and academics

While feedback is widely considered central to student learning, students across the higher education sector commonly report dissatisfaction with the feedback they receive. In contrast, academics often feel they provide quality and informative feedback. This article explores and compares the perceptions of students and academics with regard to feedback practice. The paper presents the results of questionnaire surveys conducted with academics and students at the School of the Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University. It highlights the perceptions of academics and students with regard to preferences for different types of feedback, timeliness of feedback, students’ engagement and interest in feedback, quality feedback and satisfaction with current practice. The findings indicate a significant discord between staff and students in relation to certain aspects of feedback practice, namely opinions on students’ engagement and interest in feedback, satisfaction with current practice and feedback preference. Similarities in viewpoints were also found in relation to quality feedback.     

University lecturers’ emotional responses to and coping with student feedback: a Finnish case study

Lecturers often find themselves unable to appropriately interpret or deal with student feedback, which may consequently be essential to how they feel about teaching and students. Research into lecturers’ emotional responses to student feedback is scarce, despite the growing use of student feedback as a means of evaluating teachers’ work. This narrative study explores seven lecturers’ responses to student feedback. The lecturers had prior to the study participated in pedagogical training aimed at developing a deep understanding of learning and teaching in higher education. Interviews with the lecturers were conducted and the data was analysed using a categorical approach to narrative analysis. Building on positive psychology, particularly broaden-and-build theory, we consider lecturers’ emotional responses as spirals, and thus had identified upward and downward emotional spirals regarding student feedback. Our findings suggest that pedagogical training may act as an intervention, as it appeared to be meaningful in providing guidance for coping with student feedback. We finally argue that lecturers need to find ways to cope with student feedback as this is essential for their teaching.     

Investigating the relationship between quality,format and delivery of feedback for written assignments in higher education

Feedback can have a great impact on student learning. However, in order for it to be effective, feedback needs to be of high quality. Electronic marking has been one of the latest adaptations of technology in teaching and offers a new format of delivering feedback. There is little research investigating the impact the format of feedback has on quality of feedback and subsequently on student learning. This study sets out to investigate the impact paper-based and electronic methods of assignment submission and return have on students’ and markers’ perceived quality of feedback. Students and markers on an undergraduate course were asked to complete an anonymous online survey investigating their perceptions of quality, format and timeliness of feedback delivered electronically and on paper. The results showed that marking and providing feedback electronically was an acceptable method for markers, reporting improved speed and consistency of marking. There was no increase or decrease in satisfaction with the feedback received. Overall, electronic marking was found to be an acceptable method of delivery of feedback on written assignments by both students and markers. The findings of this study suggest that electronic marking can result in more timely feedback for students without impacting on quality.     

Effectively feeding forward from one written assessment task to the next

Most studies into lecturers’ written feedback focus on the types of feedback found to be effective when students have the opportunity to act on that feedback, revise their written assignment and improve the mark they receive. But often students do not have this opportunity. Typically, they receive a mark and feedback on an assignment that they will never be able to rework and resubmit. This can leave students unsure about what to do with the feedback they receive. This paper reports on the use of high impact written feedback from lecturers that significantly improved student outcomes and grades from one assessment task to the next. It examines a range of factors which together make feedback in this context effective including: assessment design, use of grading standards and tutor training. These findings from a very large unit have significant implications for teaching staff who want to use feedback to feed forward and make a real difference to their students’ learning.     

Personal Teaching Efficacy and Its Sources: Student teachers’ perceptions

Teachers’ confidence in their ability to perform the actions that lead to student learning is one of the few individual characteristics that predicts teacher practice and student outcomes. Teachers and especially student teachers need strong efficacy beliefs in order to continue teaching during in‐service education. The current study explores the factors that precede student teachers’ beliefs of teaching efficacy and determine their conviction that they can influence instructional strategies, classroom management, and students’ engagement. In the study 198 fourth‐year students from two primary education departments in Greece completed a Teacher Efficacy Sources Inventory and a Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale. It was found that self‐perceptions of teaching competence, personal characteristics, and motivation for teaching were contributory factors to teaching efficacy. The search for this type of information from student teachers is based on the assumption that feedback from students comprises a substantive factor in relation to the evaluation and improvement of teacher training programmes.