USING STUDENT FEEDBACK THROUGH ONLINE SURVEYS TO IMPROVE LEARNING AND TEACHING: RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY EIGHT AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES

Near the end of a teaching period it is standard university practice to gather feedback from students, often using two types of surveys: one for the appraisal and development of educators, and the other to evaluate units, modules or subjects (herein called courses). Student Evaluation of Courses and Teaching (SECT) is a key component of university quality assurance, the overall aim of which is institutional improvement. Many universities have achieved a functional proficiency with SECT through electronic administration (eSECT). Students favour online distribution; digital data is less prone to error as compared to scanned forms and retyped student comments; the technology affords analysis and alignment with other indicators of quality assurance; and digital networks decrease turnaround time. While these advantages have been well documented in the literature, three themes for further investigation have emerged: design features and student response characteristics; opportunities for student engagement; and strategies for applying student feedback to university improvement. The project described in this paper addresses these domains through the collaborative efforts of strategically selected Team Members from eight Partner Institutions across five Australian states. The project is being undertaken in three stages, the first stage of which is described in this paper. Eight case studies were developed, compared and contrasted to identify themes and takeaways. The key process themes were: the importance of collaboration with key stakeholders throughout the change from paper to eSECT, and the benefits of integrating survey and report distribution with the learning management system. The unexpected finding was that, in many institutions, the student response rates were higher for online administration as compared to previous paper processes.