As a University, we place a lot of emphasis on working in partnership with students, to create a positive learning community in which students are fully engaged and motivated. Student surveys can play a significant part in helping create and sustain that partnership. Overall, we are good at student surveys, our NSS response rate is well above the national average and last year our results went up on all questions. Moreover, our NSS results for student voice are very positive – the 2018 results put us as 25/151 HEIs in terms of satisfaction on this set of questions. However, looking at the breakdown for individual questions by Institute (now School) shows variation – with three Institutes scoring very highly and three showing significant room for… Read moreCreating a positive student survey culture: closing the Course Experience Survey feedback loop

Recent student feedback, through the Course Experience Survey, and the SU Change Week initiative had identified ‘assignment bunching’ as something students would like to see addressed. So, what can be done? There are probably three key things course teams can consider to address this issue: taking a course level view of formative and summative assessment deadlines; helping students to manage their time effectively; planning an assessment strategy that involves some assignments requiring continuous engagement with reflection on learning. These are inter-related.  Some are relatively easy to adopt, whilst others will take more time.  They all start form the principle that a student’s learning experience is (and should be) of an integrated course, rather than a set of modules that are designed and developed in isolation… Read moreAddressing Assignment Bunching