student feedback and leadership - Office for Learning and Teaching

Part B: Building Leadership Capacity - BUS: School of Economics, Finance & Marketing ART Report
ECON1030 – Business Statistics
Second Semester 2007
A survey separate to the CES was conducted to explore the impact of the
drop-in sessions initiated in Semester 2, 2007 as well as other aspects
of course design. The results relating to the drop-in sessions have been
summarised below:
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Only 14.5% of the students attended the drop-in sessions, this was much
higher for the part-time student group (38.3%).
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About 46% attended a drop-in session only once however, the frequency
of attendance for the part-time students was much higher with 61.5%
attending more than 3 times.
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Of those who attended, 46.4% found the sessions to be extremely useful
(this was marginally higher for the part-time students at 53.8%). All of the
students who attended the drop-in’s indicated that they found the
sessions to be helpful.
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When asked for reasons for non-attendance – 26.1% of the students said
that it was due to study time clash; about 24% felt that they did not need
additional help and approximately 25% gave the reason as “No Time”.
Only about 11.5% students said that they could not attend due to work
commitments however, as expected, this was much higher for part-time
students at 47.6%.
It was decided that drop-in sessions would be continued in Semester 1, 2008.
First and Second Semester 2008
In recent history, ECON1030 Business Statistics has not fared well according
to the Good Teaching Scale (GTS). Typically scores have rarely exceeded 30
as can be seen from Table 1 and Figure 2 below. Prior to 2008, the GTS scores
have fluctuated in the 20s each semester and have only recently risen above
30 in 2008. In particular, the GTS increased by 27% between Semester 2,
2007 and Semester 1, 2008 following the introduction of multimedia exercises.
Similarly, a further increase in the GTS of 18% occurred between Semester 1
and 2 of 2008 after the homework assignment initiative and textbook change.
On the other hand, following the introduction of Perdisco, an online learning
tool, in Semester 1, 2006 and the compulsory mid-semester test in Semester
2, 2007 only a slight change in the GTS was observed. However, since many
factors may influence a student’s learning experience, comparing GTS scores
before and after the implementation of course initiatives will not necessarily
provide a direct indication as to how well an initiative has impacted on the
student experience. For instance, the more recent increases in GTS could
also be attributed to lagged effects from the introduction of other initiatives
in previous semesters. A number of other factors such as the age of students,
whether students are international or domestic, full-time or part-time and the
particular day or time that classes are scheduled may also influence a student’s
learning experience.
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