Student surveys and quality enhancement
Dr. Paul Bennett, Head of Surveys, Higher Education Academy
• Deliver national post-graduate surveys (PRES and PTES)
• NSS further analysis and best practice sharing
• Support and consultancy around using survey data for enhancement
• Annual Surveys for Enhancement conference
• Survey related research and policy advice
The HEA’s surveys role
www.heacademy.ac.uk/surveys
1. The HEA’s surveys role
2. Student surveys
3. The NSS and quality enhancement- Communication- Staff attitudes- Analysis and exploration- Staff-student partnerships
4. Surveying student engagement
5. Surveying the experience of postgraduates
Outline
Student surveys
Love? Hate? Efficient OverusedDemocratic ConsumeristDigestible ShallowComparable MisleadingReliable InvalidUsefulMotivating
DangerousDemotivating
SURVEYSSTUDENT EXTRACT
Student surveys
• Research method providing a partial – but often useful – representation of experience
• Need to be triangulated with other information – especially qualitative
• Comparing results useful but comes with health warnings
• Surveys can be a good starting point for student engagement –not the end point
• NSS intended to inform student choice and quality assurance
• HE White Paper (England 2011): “Well informed students driving teaching excellence”
• Publication of NSS results has increased focus on learning and teaching in many institutions and a powerful lever for change…
• …though questions remain over the focus of the survey and validity of making comparisons
• NSS becoming better used in stimulating enhancement
The NSS and quality enhancement
HEA’s NSS Institutional Strategy Working Group:
‘Making it Count: Reflecting on the National Student Survey in the process of enhancement’ (October 2012)
Available via:www.heacademy.ac.uk/nss
Progress in communication of NSS results:
- ‘Top-down’ dissemination to staff
- Dissemination of results to students unions
- ‘You said, we did’
- Staff-student discussions in formal structures
- ‘You said, we didn’t’ and wider dialogue
- Staff-student partnerships at all stages – promotion, analysis, dissemination, further research, discussions, decision-making
The NSS and quality enhancement
Staff attitudes
•Important to mitigate perception that the NSS is ‘a stick to beat us with’
•‘Deficit model’ focusing on poor performance, statistical rankings and ‘red lights’ – can be counter-productive with academic staff
•More effective use focuses on sharing best practice, case-studies, mutual support and use of qualitative information (including free-text comments)
•Being open about the strengths and limitations of the survey
The NSS and quality enhancement
Analysis and exploration
•NSS limitations include detail, focus and one-method
•Vital to ‘triangulate’ with other information, e.g.
more detailed internal and module surveys
information about other (non-satisfaction) aspects of experience – e.g. engagement
information beyond ‘experience’, including grades, employability, retention, examiners’ reports
non-survey methods, including qualitative information for depth
The NSS and quality enhancement
Staff-student partnerships
•Student analyses can add interpretations – and find solutions – that staff committees can’t do on their own
•Student unions, reps and other students need support in analysing, understanding and using NSS data
•Vital for effective discussion of NSS and enhancement in system of student representation
•Some institutions have used NSS results as a springboard for staff-student workshops and conferences
The NSS and quality enhancement
Partnership approaches
Using NSS data
13
The NSS and quality enhancement
Impact of learning experience on overall satisfaction
Multiple regression of National Student Survey 2011 dataset
Scale Rank Beta
The teaching on my course 1 0.326
Personal development =2 0.211
Organisation and management =2 0.209
Academic support 4 0.156
Assessment and feedback 5 0.082
Learning resources 6 0.027
Are the questions valid measures of quality (and does that matter)?
Graham Gibbs (2010) Dimensions of Quality
•Valid, comparable measures of educational quality in institutions should relate to educational gain
•Measures of effective practice (e.g. student engagement, intellectual challenge, deep learning) are good predictors of educational gain
•Such measures can be found in the US National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) but not, on the whole, in the UK’s NSS
The NSS and quality enhancement
• CEQ research suggested some items indicate deep vs. surface learning:
A perception that workload is too high is strongly related to a surface approach
A perception that assessment is focused on memorisation and reproduction is strongly related to a surface approach
A perception that teachers are enthusiastic, give good feedback, make the subject interesting and communicate well is partly related to a deep approach
• Questions in the NSS ‘optional bank’ are relevant for enhancement
The NSS and quality enhancement
The NSS and quality enhancement
• Amongst other things, engagement surveys like NSSE and AUSSE ask about:
- learning interaction with peers (in and outside class)
- learning interaction with staff (in and outside class)
- engagement in own study – self-directed learning and effort
- course challenge / depth of learning
• Research suggest these ‘predict’ educational gain, especially ‘depth of learning’
• Less clear to what extent they predict NSS results and less researched in a UK context
Surveying student engagement
Surveying student engagement
Surveying student engagement
HEA’s UK Engagement Survey Pilot
•14 items from NSSE adapted for UK use in internal surveys in 9 institutions (plus 2 more running variants of the whole NSSE/AUSSE)
•HEA analysing pooled data, providing national aggregate for participants, testing reliability and commissioning cognitive testing
•Institutions will produce case-studies on use of results for enhancement
•Year 2 of pilot will expand the number of institutions involved and may test relationship with NSS items
Surveying student engagement
• Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) - launched 2007, runs every two years
• Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) - launched 2009, runs annually
• Aim to inform enhancements to learning and teaching and advise national policy
• Not intended to inform student choice
• Results are confidential = no league tables
• Benchmarking clubs facilitate comparisons
• Allow for inclusion of locally specific questions
Surveying the experience of postgraduates
Surveying the experience of postgraduates
Reason for using PRES %
Identify specific areas for enhancement 94
Assess perceptions of quality of degree programmes 67
Assess the equality of experience and/or opportunities
58
Benchmark experience nationally or with comparator institutions
56
Evaluate consistency of experience across disciplines/departments
52
Help engage relevant staff groups in enhancement 29
Demonstrate to potential PGR students the quality of the research training environment
17
Demonstrate to funders the institution's commitment to PGR support
8
Other 8
• Significant redevelopment of PRES for 2013
• Focus on enhancement priorities in Researcher Development Framework and Quality Code (B11)
• Greater emphasis on research skills and professional development – including supervisors’ role
• Also importance of ‘Research community’ for PGRs
• More detailed than NSS, but same principles apply in use for enhancement
• PTES being redeveloped for 2014
Surveying the experience of postgraduates
Vitae study for HEA:
‘Using PRES to enhance the experience of postgraduate researchers’(September, 2012)
Available via:www.heacademy.ac.uk/pres