Responding to evaluation feedback

We remind students to always communicate appropriately, as set out in the student code of conduct.

When we collect informal feedback from students, there are limited opportunities for redaction to take place. Therefore, you may be exposed to personal or upsetting comments. This can trigger an emotional response when there’s a link between our personal identity, our teaching and the student feedback.

Receiving unacceptable feedback

Recent research suggests that some academics, for example, women and those from the most underrepresented groups (Heffernan, 2022), are more likely to experience abusive comments.

If you feel that the student feedback breaches University policies in relation to acceptable behaviour and the student code of conduct, for example, if comments are unwarranted or discriminatory, then please:

• refer to the formal procedure for staff outlined in The Respect at Work and Study Policy
• contact your line manager for advice

The Respect at Work and Study Policy

The University is committed to ensuring that all members of the University community are protected from incidents of harassment, sexual misconduct, bullying and victimisation.

The Respect at Work and Study Policy outlines the informal and formal mechanisms and support available for those who feel they are, or have been, subject to any form of harassment, sexual misconduct, bullying or victimisation.

The Wellbeing intranet page signposts a range of services, resources and support. 

Interpreting student feedback can be challenging, as it may be influenced by various factors such as students’ expectations, motivations and cultures of education.

We recommend taking some time to read, digest and process feedback. You might find it useful to:

• take some time in between each stage, for example, begin with a quick review of comments and then follow up with some more detailed analysis at a later date
• categorise comments into areas of either strength or challenge, positivity or negativity, depending on the context
• ensure that positive feedback is given equal attention to negative
• identify possible actions as you analyse the data, taking care to identify who is responsible for the action

Example: Feedback from students suggests my PowerPoint resources are not accessible.

Reflection

Here practice is recalled, deconstructed and analysed on relevant levels (e.g. effectiveness for students, colleagues, your own development etc). 

Specifying

Define the problem carefully. You may need some clarity from the students in terms of determining exactly what is not accessible.

You might decide to run your PowerPoint through the accessibility checker. This may highlight an identified ‘gap’ in knowledge or skills, student provision, or a ‘development need’ that could be addressed by further resources, professional dialogue, a calibration exercise, a short course, etc. 

Goal setting

Make a clear statement of the action that will address the identified ‘gap’ or problem. Consider how this can be addressed and what would be a realistic timeframe. The acronym SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound) will help here. 

Implementation

Put the statement into practice. You may need support from your line manager, a trusted colleague, the University Teaching Academy, or other services, to ensure your plan for implementation is SMART.

In this case, the University’s Digital Education team runs a training session that covers all the basics for ensuring that your teaching resources are accessible; past recordings of the training session are also available.

The University Teaching Academy (UTA) also has resources about designing an inclusive curriculum, which you may like to explore.  

Monitoring and evaluation

It is important to share your response with the students who provided the feedback. Some actions are not immediately effective.

It is helpful to continue to evaluate in a timely way and consider what adjustments are needed, while keeping students updated. It may be necessary to  reframe the issue or its solution after further reflection.   

Is the feedback representative?

For example, have the comments come from a wide cross section of the group or are they from one or two individuals? You may find that further clarity is needed. 

What has motivated engagement?

For example, are students only choosing to engage with feedback processes when they have experienced a problem or when things are going well? How can you ensure that engagement is more consistent across the unit? This will help to ensure that feedback is more representative. 

When was the feedback provided?

You may find that feedback is more likely to be negative during particular pinch points, e.g just before an assessment or more positive just after. It is, therefore, important to ensure that you have more than one opportunity for feedback to be provided. 

How does this feedback align with what you already know?

For example, does it align with what you would expect to hear?  

What does this feedback look like in relation to other data?

This might be in relation to NSS, etc. 

Is it worth examining historical feedback to get a clearer context? For example, is the feedback timely, or does it relate to a previous time/activity/ assessment? If so, you may feel reassured that steps have been taken to change practice, but are your students aware of these changes? It is important to ensure that they are. 

The QAA, HEA and NUS have jointly undertaken research identifying key features of good practice when using student feedback. These are: 

• the priority given to the role of students in contributing to quality assurance and enhancement; this can be achieved through various mechanisms, such as student representation and surveys.  

• the importance of showing how feedback from students is acted on; this may be done through a dedicated website or other mechanisms. 

• the use of mechanisms for ensuring greater engagement of students in feedback and monitoring, particularly the employment of (paid) student representatives with responsibilities to collect feedback and report on actions. 

• the use of a variety of methods, within an integrated strategy, for collecting, analysing and reporting actions taken in response to feedback.  

• the development of a feedback culture.  

• reporting on feedback collected at a module level within the module handbook (so the next cohort can see what actions have been taken in response to the previous cohort’s evaluation) - the use of a pro forma for this report ensures the response is consistent and constructive. 

Go to guidance about providing information for students (qaa.ac.uk) 

The action plan wheel is designed to encourage continuous evaluation and to emphasise the iterative nature of action planning.  In this context, the action planning wheel can be used to act upon the feedback provided.    

Remember that this feedback, whilst a valuable source of information for improving your unit/programme, can also sometimes feel overwhelming if you try to address every single comment.  

A more effective approach is to focus on a few key actions that will make the biggest difference to your student’s learning experience; you can also use insights from your previous reflections to help you prioritise these actions.