This paper reviews the research evidence concerning the use of formal instruments to measure students’ evaluations of their teachers, students’ satisfaction with their programmes and students’ perceptions of the quality of their programmes. These questionnaires can provide important evidence for assessing the quality of teaching, for supporting attempts to improve the quality of teaching and for informing prospective students about the quality of course units and programmes. The paper concludes by discussing several issues affecting the practical utility of the instruments that can be used to obtain student feedback. Many students and teachers believe that student feedback is useful and informative, but for a number of reasons many teachers and institutions do not take student feedback sufficiently seriously.

https://www.jcu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/104566/jcu_121465.pdf

Instruments for obtaining student feedback: a review of the literature

Using student-centred learning environments to stimulate deep approaches to learning: Factors encouraging or discouraging their effectiveness

This project draws on a large body of seminal research showing that the approaches students take to learning, and the subsequent quality of their learning, is closely related to their perceptions of their learning experience. Recent research has demonstrated these findings also hold for non-standard modes of delivery such as distance education using on-line strategies. However, there is currently little research about how predominately campus-based students' experiences of the on-line part of their course are associated with their experience of the course as a whole. The present study extends previous research into the domain of blended learning, by exploring the relations between student perceptions of the e-Learning environment, approaches to study, and student grades.

Quality in blended learning: Exploring the relationships between on-line and face-to-face teaching and learning

Despite, and perhaps because of its amorphous nature, the term ‘academic success’ is one of the most widely used constructs in educational research and assessment within higher education. This paper conducts an analytic literature review to examine the use and operationalization of the term in multiple academic fields. Dominant definitions of the term are conceptually evaluated using Astin’s I-E-O model resulting in the proposition of a revised definition and new conceptual model of academic success. Measurements of academic success found throughout the literature are presented in accordance with the presented model of academic success. These measurements are provided with details in a user-friendly table (Appendix B). Results also indicate that grades and GPA are the most commonly used measure of academic success. Finally, recommendations are given for future research and practice to increase effective assessment of academic success.

/pdf/defining-and-measuring-academic-success-2ufmxnyusb.pdf

Defining and Measuring Academic Success.

Pharmacy Student Engagement, Performance, and Perception in a Flipped Satellite Classroom Jacqueline E. McLaughlin, PhD, MS, LaToya M. Griffin, PhD, Denise A. Esserman, PhD, Christopher A. Davidson, ME, Dylan M. Glatt, Mary T. Roth, PharmD, Nastaran Gharkholonarehe, PharmD and Russell J. Mumper, PhD UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Departments of Medicine and Biostatistics, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT Pharmacy Student Engagement, Performance, and Perception in a Flipped Satellite Classroom

The relationship between university students' perceptions of their academic environment, their approaches to study, and academic outcomes was investigated at both university and faculty levels. The responses of a large, cross-disciplinary sample of undergraduate students were analysed using higher order path and regression analyses, and the results confirmed students' perceptions as influencing both 'hard' (academic achievement) and 'soft' (satisfaction, development of key skills) learning outcomes, both directly and mediated through their approaches to study. Perceptions of heavy workload and inappropriate assessment influenced students towards surface, and perceptions of good teaching towards deep, approaches to study. Students' perceptions of their current learning environment were a stronger predictor of learning outcomes at university than prior achievement at school. Protocols are proposed to guide more fine-grained analysis of students' perceptions.

http://reforma.fen.uchile.cl/Papers/Learning%20Environment%20and%20Academic%20Outcomes%20-%20Lizzio%20Wilson%20Simons.pdf

Roland Simons

Papers

University Students' Perceptions of the Learning Environment and Academic Outcomes: Implications for theory and practice