student feedback and leadership - Office for Learning and Teaching

Part B: Building Leadership Capacity - DSC: Property, Construction & Project Management ART Report
9.10 Leadership Reflections
Questions for ART (as a whole team):
1. What has your participation in this project enabled you to achieve
in regard to improving student feedback?
Participation in the project has provided a focus on feedback beyond what
has been undertaken in the past. Ways of addressing issues identified by
students in the past formed the basis for new initiatives. While our investigation
was focussed on the influence of facilities on student feedback and learning,
other issues such as the use of technology and alternative means of obtaining
feedback from students also became evident. The net results of the ART
project were an increase in the CES scores for the applicable courses.
2. What are the key factors that enabled you to achieve this?
The key factors that contributed to the results obtained were the hard work
of the team to determine alternative solutions, availability of internal School
resources to undertake minor upgrading of some facilities, the willing cooperation
of staff in the VET sector and the framework of the ART project
to concentrate our efforts.
3. What challenges did you face in achieving this?
One of the major challenges we faced was inducing students to participate
in feedback focus groups, both formal and informal. Students who did attend
thought generally that they were over surveyed. A further challenge was
uncertain decisions with regard to university space planning.
4. How has your participation in this project increased your knowledge
about how to enhance student learning and improve learning and
teaching practice?
Our knowledge of student learning has positively benefited us in two ways.
Firstly the work we have done ourselves in the ART project has provided
us with a strong focus on student learning as opposed to a major focus
on what we were teaching the students. Secondly we have benefited from
hearing from the other two ART projects as to how they solved their
particular issues.
5. Do you see what you have done in this project as a form of leadership?
Please explain.
Engagement with the School Learning and Teaching Committee and subsequently
the ART project was voluntary by all team members, in particular
the two senior members. Clearly this is part of the informal leadership that
takes place in the School.
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