Lolita Alfred
With the increasing need for educators to work in partnership with students, one of the questions we continue to grapple with is around how best to involve students, particularly in enhancing teaching, learning and curriculums more broadly (Chadha et al, 2022). End of module or course evaluations are amongst the most common methods of reviewing and enhancing teaching as well as students’ potential for academic achievement (Wright and Jenkins-Guarnieri, 2012). However ‘end of module’ evaluations can be limited in that they may not always directly benefit the students who are undertaking the module before it finishes. Literature acknowledges the role and potential benefit of introducing ‘mid-module’ evaluation as a way of providing module teams with interim feedback on how students are experiencing the module they are taking, thus giving time for the module team to make improvements where required before the module delivery is completed. While most module teams may gather informal feedback during the running of a module (and make enhancements), having a more formalised mid-module evaluation gives all students on a module the opportunity to provide feedback. Mid module evaluations are also more flexible in how they are structured, for example Sozer et al., (2019) highlight the use of more open ended questions that prompt more in depth feedback than the predominantly Likert scale type of questions used in standard end of module evaluations. I implemented mid module evaluation during one of my modules with a specific view to collaborating or ‘partnering with students’ on enhancing the module and their teaching and learning experience. Inspired by the innovative work of Chilvers et al, (2021) for example, I was interested in the potential for stimulating a discussion with students and prompting a more reflexive process of evaluation with co-constructed (educator and student) solutions to enhancing their experiences and learning on the module before its completion. With this in mind, the workshop will focus on:
– My experience of using mid-module feedback to collaborate, discuss and co-create module enhancements to teaching and learning with students.
– Discussing what ‘partnering with students’ on enhancing teaching and learning during the module looked like
– Discussing the logistics of how and when mid-module feedback was done, and some of the challenges i experienced.
– Discussing with colleagues tips from the literature about innovative ways to deliver & benefit from collaborative mid-module evaluation approaches
– Discussing ways to enhance student engagement with mid-module evaluations without resulting in ‘evaluation fatigue’
Workshop Learning Objectives Colleagues in the workshop will:
– Discuss the role and relevance of mid-module evaluation, and what the literature says about this.
– Have an overview of experiences of mid-module evaluation, and the logistics of doing this within modules.
– Discuss opportunities for harnessing mid-module evaluation and partnering with students on this.
– Discuss some of the challenges to implementing mid-module evaluation and meeting students expectations. Outline & Timings of the Workshop
Task Timings
Introduction (5 minutes)
Activity 1 (10 minutes): What are colleagues current experiences with module evaluations and mid-module evaluation 10 minutes
- Brief presentation of the background to module evaluations and where mid-module evaluation sits within this. This will include my personal experience of implementing mid module
Activity 2 (10 minutes): What opportunities can colleague sharness to implement more collaborative ‘partnership’ approaches to mid-module evaluation and enhance students teaching & learning experiences within modules.
- What challenges do colleagues envision in implementing this in their own modules? 10 minutes 10 minutes
Conclusion & Q&A (10 minutes)
References
Chadha, D. Inguva, PK. Bui Le, & Kogelbauer, A (2022) How far do we go? Involving students as partners for redesigning teaching. Educational Action Research DOI: 10.1080/09650792.2022.2058974
Chilvers, L. Fox, A & Bennett, S (2021) A student–staff partnership approach to course enhancement: Principles for enabling dialogue through repurposing subject-specific materials and metaphors. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 58:1, 14-24, DOI: 10.1080/14703297.2019.1675530
Sozer, EM, Zeybekoglu, Z & Kaya, M (2019) Using mid-semester course evaluation as a feedback tool for improving learning and teaching in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 44:7, 1003-1016, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2018.1564810
Wright, L. S., and A. M. Jenkins-Guarnieri (2012) “Student Evaluations of Teaching: Combining Meta-Analyses and Demonstrating Further Evidence for Effective Use.” Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 37 (6):683–99. doi:10.1080/02602938.2011.563279.
