Student Surveys of Units

What will be surveyed?

• Murdoch requires that coursework units are surveyed at least once every two years, providing that more than 10 students are enrolled.
• The TLC contacts School/Faculty Deans about two-thirds of the way through each semester and asks them to confirm the units required for survey, and whether any additional units should be surveyed, over and above those which policy requires as a minimum. Faculties/Schools may elect to have a more comprehensive coverage where, for instance, a school review is approaching, or a new course has been established.
• Units with fewer than 10 students will not be surveyed as statistical procedures would be inappropriate, and student anonymity becomes difficult to sustain. The problem is compounded given the average response rates for Unit Surveys is around 50%. Other ways of giving feedback to students gives suggestions on collecting feedback from small groups of students.

What questions will be asked?

• The unit questionnaire consists of eight core questions which have been developed with reference to the university's Unit Quality Standards.
  
  
• The core questions are –
  1. It was clear what I was expected to learn in this unit.
  2. The assessment tasks were appropriate to the learning objectives.
  3. The feedback on my marked work was useful for my learning in this unit.
  4. The assessment tasks tested my understanding of the subject area, rather than just memory.
  5. Activities in this unit helped me achieve the learning objectives.
  6. The unit resources were useful for my learning in this unit.
  7. I was satisfied with the level of support from staff in this unit.
  8. Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this unit.


• Questions are asked on a 6-point scale from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree with the additional option of Unable to Judge.

• In addition to the core questions, unit co-ordinators may select up to ten optional ratings questions from the item bank, and also write an open-ended question in their own words.
  
  
• There are also three standard open-ended questions for student comments –
1. Please comment on what you thought were the best aspects of this unit.
2. What improvements (if any) would you suggest?
3. Any other comments?

How will it be surveyed?

• All unit surveys are undertaken using MOSS (Murdoch Online Survey System).
• Once the units for survey have been selected by Faculties and Schools, the TLC will contact you.
• You should then login to MOSS to select your optional questions, write an open-ended question if you wish, and check which offerings of the unit (eg Rockingham, Peel, External) are being surveyed. Offerings need to have more than 10 enrolled students to be surveyed.
• Students will be emailed informing them the unit is being surveyed and how they login and complete the questionnaire. A link will also be available in the student portal (MyUnits).
• Surveys are generally opened to students in the last week or two of a typical teaching block and remain open for several weeks thereafter. If your units cannot be surveyed at this time you need to contact the TLC.
  

What you need to do?

Online surveys can suffer from low response rates and student email addresses may not be up-to-date. There are a number of strategies you can take to help maximise the response rate from your students –

• Inform students that their feedback is being sought and provide them with the url for the survey:
  http://www.tlc.murdoch.edu.au/survey
• Ensure students know that all submissions will go into a prize draw. Details of prizes will be sent to you.
• Show students the information they provide is valued by staff and will be used to make improvements to teaching and learning, eg by giving examples of changes made due to previous student feedback. Research has shown that students are happy to give feedback providing they have some evidence that it is used. (http://www.tlc.murdoch.edu.au/pubs/docs/respfeed.html).
• Give regular reminders to students to complete the survey form.
  

What about Results

The results will be generally be available once the grades for the unit have been finalised. You will be able to access the results online, and will receive an email with information on when and where.

Student Surveys of Teaching

Student Surveys Index