Student module feedback questionnaires ...

1 

Student module feedback questionnaires...................................................2 

Purpose........................................................................................................2 

Scope ...........................................................................................................2 

Process ........................................................................................................2 

Undergraduate modules ...........................................................................2 

Postgraduate modules..............................................................................3 

Administering paper questionnaires..........................................................3 

Online module evaluation.............................................................................3 

Collaborative and distance learning programmes.....................................3 

Informal feedback questionnaires.................................................................3 

Evaluation and consideration of the data .....................................................4 

Module Evaluation September 2010 Page 1 of 4

Student module feedback questionnaires 

Purpose 

The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that all students are invited to give 

feedback on every module they take at QMUL via an anonymous module evaluation 

questionnaire, and that such feedback is collated and used systematically to assure 

and enhance the quality of QMUL’s taught provision. 

The questionnaire will cover teaching and assessment, academic support, resource 

allocation and module organisation, with students also encouraged to give feedback 

on how the module could be improved. 

Scope 

It is intended that this procedure covers all Queen Mary undergraduate and taught 

postgraduate programmes, including collaborative or distance learning programmes. 

It does not cover research degrees or non-award bearing continuing education. 

Process 

Heads of Schools should ensure that anonymous module evaluation takes place for 

all taught provision within their school, and that it is operated in a consistent and 

transparent way. Heads should nominate a specific member of academic staff to coordinate 

and administer the process, for example the Chair of the Teaching and 

Learning Committee, or of the Student Staff Liaison Committee. 

Undergraduate modules 

In 2010-11 QMUL will be operating a new, centrally administered system for 

anonymous module evaluation. In the pilot phase this will apply only to 

undergraduate programmes, with the intention of later rolling it out for all taught 

provision. QMUL, to ensure high completion rates, has decided to operate a paper 

questionnaire that will be optically read for fast data collection and processing, and 

will also provide space for students to give comments. The forms will be returned to 

schools/institutes after processing so that free-text responses can be evaluated. 

Planning will be responsible for overseeing analysis of module evaluation data for the 

College, and will return the data to Heads of Schools/Institutes and the Deans for 

Taught Programmes (or equivalent), taking care to clearly identify any modules 

where the data indicates potential concerns. The Head of the School or Institute 

should review the data and satisfy him/herself that there are no urgent issues 

needing immediate attention, before passing on the free-text responses so that the 

Module Evaluation Coordinator can assess them. 

The QMUL questionnaire is quite short in order to minimise the risk of questionnaire 

‘fatigue’ by students. It has 10 statements against which students should make a 

response using a five-point Likert scale. Of these, seven statements will be core 

QMUL evaluation questions that all students will be asked to address; three 

statements will be provided by schools/institutes/disciplines to address their needs. 

QMUL has adopted a five-point scale because it is used in the NSS, and hence this 

will give some limited comparison with NSS data plus staff should have some 

experience in gauging the meaning of scores on a 5 point Likert scale. Additionally 

HEFCE has established a benchmark of 4.0 as acceptable for NSS scores, and this 

can reasonably be used as an (informal) benchmark for module evaluation scores. 


Postgraduate modules 

Questionnaires should cover teaching, academic support, resource allocation and 

module organisation, with students also encouraged to give free-text comments, 

including feedback on how the module could be improved. The Learning Institute 

can be contacted for further advice on module evaluation questionnaires. The 

Module Evaluation Coordinator should analyse the data and provide summaries for 

the Head of School/Institute, who should satisfy him/herself that there are no urgent 

issues needing immediate attention. 

Administering paper questionnaires 

The forms for module evaluation should be administered to students in week 9, 10 or 

11 of the semester or other agreed times where modules run outside the two 

standard semesters. 

Students should be allowed reasonable time to complete questionnaires at the end of 

timetabled sessions. Staff teaching modules should give students information about 

the value of the exercise, give guidance on how to correctly complete the form and 

reassure students that the process is anonymous. Staff should then leave and a 

student volunteer or volunteers should give a questionnaire to everyone in the class 

and collect them at the end. The student volunteer(s) should then seal the 

questionnaires in an envelope provided by the School for the purpose and then 

deliver them immediately to the school/institute office. 

Online module evaluation 

There may be good reasons why not all schools/institutes/disciplines can or should 

use the centrally-administered QMUL evaluation scheme for undergraduate modules, 

for example some schools have their own on-one systems with good return rates. 

Where such a case can be made and data reliably collected, then the school or 

institute should provide data for the seven core QMUL evaluation questions and in a 

comparable format to that collected through the QMUL scheme for undergraduate 

modules, i.e. using the 5 point Likert scale. Only schools and institutes who are able 

to provide data in this form will be able to opt out of the central system. 

Schools/institutes/disciplines using online module evaluation (for undergraduate or 

postgraduate students) should ensure that their systems guarantee genuine 

anonymity for respondents. If students are asked to take the survey in a timetabled 

session then staff teaching the session should give students information about the 

value of the exercise, give guidance on how to log on to the questionnaire and should 

reassure students that the process is anonymous, before leaving so that students 

can complete the survey confidentially. 

Collaborative and distance learning programmes 

While a paper-based system of module evaluation is preferred because of its good 

return rates, for some collaborative provision and for distance learning programmes 

module evaluation may need to be operated online. While distance learning 

questionnaires may not be able to cover teaching, they should still be used to gather 

feedback on delivery (i.e. is the delivery of learning materials, however achieved, 

secure, reliable and fit for purpose), academic support and assessment, with 

students also encouraged to give feedback on how the module could be improved. 

Informal feedback questionnaires 

Several schools/institutes/disciplines run mid-semester informal module evaluation 

questionnaires in order that the current cohort can benefit from immediate action 

taken in response. Schools and institutes are encouraged to continue and expand 

this good practice. 


Evaluation and consideration of the data 

Module evaluation data should be made widely available to students in each 

school/institute/discipline. Summaries of module evaluation data should be made 

available on websites and discussed with students at Student-Staff Liaison 

Committees. Verbatim free-text comments should not be shared with students 

unless the Module Evaluation Coordinator has ‘cleaned’ the comments to remove 

any remarks that could identify any individual, whether student or staff. Schools and 

Institutes should ensure that students are kept informed of the actions taken and 

outcomes achieved where problematic issues have been identified. When feeding 

back to students it is good practice to use the approach of ‘this is what you have told 

us’… ‘this is what we have done’. 

After the SSLC has considered it, module evaluation data should then be seen by 

Teaching and Learning Committees, together with any comments from the SSLC. 

Any issues identified as needing more consideration should be forwarded to 

School/Institute Boards for further consideration. 

Within faculties the Dean for Taught Programmes (or equivalent) is responsible for 

monitoring module evaluation and its operation across all schools/institutes, and will 

also consider summary data for all module evaluation within the faculty. For the 

purposes of monitoring across the institution, summary data will be provided, 

together with a commentary, in the School’s annual programme review, and will be 

considered in the two annual summary reports on undergraduate and postgraduate 

annual programme reviews written by the Academic Registry and Council 

Secretariat. 

September 2010

Student module feedback questionnaires ...

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