This document discusses using programme surveys to inform educational enhancement. It addresses the purposes and challenges of programme surveys, using survey results as quality indicators, and engaging academic staff. Programme surveys provide partial representations of student experience and should be triangulated with other data sources. Survey results alone do not indicate quality but can help identify areas for improvement when discussed openly among staff, students, and administrators. Engaging all stakeholders is key to effectively utilizing programme surveys for educational enhancement.
2. ∂
Outline
1. Purpose and challenges of programme surveys
• Purposes and types of programme survey
• Challenges of student surveys
• Challenges of‘programme-ness’
1. Driving enhancements to education
• Survey results as quality indicators
• Engaging academic staff
are the main strengths and limitations of using the NSS for informing
changes to teaching?
3. ∂
Purposes of programme surveys
NSS Review
• Providing information to prospective students
• Providing information to HE providers
(for quality assurance and enhancement)
• Ensuring public accountability
(especially informing government and funders)
• Informing current students strengths and
limitations of using the NSS for informing changes to
teaching?
4. ∂
Purposes of programme surveys
QAA UK Quality Code (B5 – Student Engagement)
• Questionnaires as one of a wide range of
mechanisms by which students can be involved in
quality systems
• Survey results themselves part of the information
base for student-staff discussions
5. ∂
Types of student surveys
• Satisfaction
• Experience
• Climate (more common at institution level)
• Engagement
• Diagnostic (more common at module level)
Questions may attempt to extract: opinions, attitudes, factual
information, perceptions, motivations, expectations,
behaviours, development, understanding…
11. ∂
Engaging academic staff
• Staff sceptical of survey metrics:
- Reductionist
- Data problems, aggregation, programme-ness…
- Response rates
- Question focus and language
- Top down approach with a ‘deficit’ focus –
‘a stick to beat us with’
• Why are the results as they are?
12. ∂
Engaging academic staff
• Opportunities to unpack and openly discuss results
• Focus on positive areas and sharing best practice
• Triangulation with other information and expertise
• Further research and investigation to ‘drill down’
• Staff – student engagement
13. ∂
Progress in use of the NSS for enhancement
- ‘Traffic-light’ performance monitoring
- Use in staff meetings and action-plans
- ‘You said, we did’
- Further research and investigation
- Staff-student-manager dialogue (formal/informal)
- Staff-student events
- Students as partners (e.g. in action planning)
14. ∂
Discussion
1. How do survey results inform planning for
enhancement at your institution?
2. What are the challenges in ‘drilling down’ into
results to find out what the issues are?
3. How best can academic staff be engaged in
discussion of survey results?
15. ∂
• Programme surveys are useful
research method giving a partial
representation of experience
• Recognising strengths and
limitations is key to planning
effective enhancement
• Needs to be triangulated with
other information – e.g. module
evaluation, qualitative feedback
• Importance of staff and student
engagement
Summary
16. ‘Making it Count’
- using the NSS for
enhancement
www.heacademy.ac.uk/nss
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