Evaluation of teaching and units will now be open until the end of the first week of exams

Now previous practise was “to collect feedback whilst the unit is still running to ensure that the feedback is not related to the marks or experience of the final assessment.”

This matters, observers suggest, because student evals are used in performance assessment of teaching staff, which can include consideration for promotion.

However last night the university stated the change was a response to “concerns raised by students over a number of years” and was trialled with two (unnamed) faculties earlier this year,  “in consultation with faculty education leaders.”

“Student feedback on the trial indicated a strong preference for a later survey period because it allowed them to provide feedback on a fuller experience of learning and teaching in a unit.”

The “conventional SETU survey collection period” was over five weeks, from week nine to week 13 of semester. Under the new approach, the survey will open in week 11 and close in week 14 to allow four weeks of data collection.

“However exam marks will not have been released during the survey period.”