How to gather feedback on your module from your students
UCD policy is to use a standardised online questionnaire to gather student feedback at the end of a module. As well as the standard institutional approach to student evaluation, module coordinators are well-advised to consider tailoring their own individual approach to gathering helpful student feedback in other ways at other times suited to their students’ learning. In order to avoid survey-fatigue, it is not advised to conduct other feedback surveys during the standard end of module survey timeframe.
Other resources for gathering feedback from students are given in the links below.
These resources are of two types Questionnaires and Alternatives to Questionnaires.
Questionnaires are the most commonly used method of gathering student feedback because:
- They are simple and cheap to use,
- Can produce excellent data, and
- Appear to be easily standardised.
N.B. The appearance of easy standardisation is misleading because, while it is easy to standardise the questions themselves, it is difficult to standardise individual understanding of, and responses to the, often, subjective terms used. This problem is magnified when comparisons are attempted between modules, programmes, disciplines or institutions situated in very different socio-cultural contexts.
In practice, questionnaires are often very limited in what they find because when presented with questionnaires, without also being given adequate prompts for reflection and time for discussion, students:
- Tend to over-emphasise their most recent experience on the module or programme concerned
- Are often inappropriately influenced by recent experiences within the wider institutional context
- Are often inappropriately influenced by recent experiences in wholly unrelated contexts
- Tend to answer without the considered thought and reflection that can come from discussions with peers.
In contrast, the methods that are given in the section entitled “Alternatives to Questionnaires” tend to produce richer and more reflective data.
Examples of questionnaires that have proved effective:
Letter seeking feedback from graduates or students who have moved on to another module or stage
If you are gathering data from students on a programme or module – rather than only on a module – you should balance it with data from staff. One way to do this is to use the staff questionnaire
Examples of alternatives to questionnaires that have proved effective:
Structured group-feedback meetings
If you would like to attend workshop on the use of these data-gathering techniques please click here.
