Session 6: Beyond QoTs

Session 6: Beyond the QoTs: additional strategies for evaluating the quality of student learning

Subject and course evaluation is a messy business in universities. It is also the bane of many academics’ experiences of teaching. In many universities, academics are required to use a standard form with items that don’t really ask what they want to know through processes they feel removed from. There are often mixed messages about how the data is being used and for what purpose. Is to help me improve? Is it to punish me? Is it to recognise and reward my efforts? Is it to tell me about how students experience their learning in the subject? Students too, report that they are unaware of how the feedback they provide is actually used to improve teaching and learning (Rooney & Thomas, 2008). They fill in countless survey forms about their experience of learning across different areas of the university but are inevitably left out of the change process.

In this session, we will encourage you to take an educational view of subject evaluation – one that asks you to approach evaluation in a way that is about enhancing student learning. In particular, we will encourage you to move beyond the sole focus on Item 2 of the QoT (This subject was well taught) to consider and use the data available in the remainder of the survey to help you improve the quality of student learning. You will learn a range of approaches that provide you with a more holistic, balanced and accurate approach to the evaluation of your subject. You will also learn additional techniques for obtaining formative feedback: from both students and peers. This is feedback that is obtained throughout the semester and then acted on to improve student learning. In essence, you will learn about the importance of closing the feedback loop, reporting your reflections, impressions and actions to students, colleagues and your academic supervisor, as an opportunity for feedback and inquiry.