Session 52: Towards an understanding of how students’ express ideas around participation and engagement in their own learning

Abstract

Module evaluation is an opportunity for students to evaluate their learning experience in specific modules. This can help module leaders and/or teams to understand what aspects of the module are working and what may warrant revision. Evaluation approaches that rely on dialogue and discussion can be particularly useful in providing rich information on the student experience. However, anonymous surveys support the collection of information from a wider range of students. They also facilitate benchmarking and comparison over time that can support evidence-based decision making. As such, module evaluation is a key feature of most universities’ student feedback mechanisms (Tschirhart & Pratt-Adams, 2019). However, evaluation surveys can appear overly transactional, with a focus on how students receive or respond to teaching, information and support, as opposed to how they engage with the module. Tutors will rightly point out that a student’s judgement of how challenging a module is, for example, should be considered alongside the effort that they put in. This begs the question of how module evaluation questions can be framed to encourage students to recognise their participation in their own learning. Developing survey items to address this requires an appreciation of how students articulate ideas around participation and engagement. To understand that better, this year’s module LJMU evaluation survey included an additional, open-text question, ‘How would you describe the effort you have put into studying this module?’ There were in the region of 20,000 responses to this question, providing a significant bank of data. This presentation will offer an analysis of this. Alongside considering how such insight can help shape future survey items, the presentation will explore how effort can be expressed as both a positive and negative concept. In addition, analysis suggests that the concept of effort may differ with respect to specific student characteristics including level of study and subject area.

Tschirhart, C., & Pratt-Adams, S. D. (2019). Closing the loop: An evaluation of student-led module feedback at one UK higher education institution. International Journal for Students as Partners, 3(2), 78-90.

Towards an understanding of how students’ express ideas around participation and engagement in their own learning PowerPoint.  Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource.