Student Engagement and Feedback - Durham University

Common Awards (Theology, Ministry and Mission)

This page shows examples of TEI good practice highlighted by the External Examiners and the ULOs in their reports, in areas related to student engagement and feedback. Click on the links below to jump to Good Practice ideas on each topic.

Student Engagement

Improving student feedback rates

Responding to feedback

	Student Engagement	TEI
1	The TEI have also introduced a new mentor for the independent students in order to provide a greater feeling of community for these students who often felt left out.	ERMC (2020-21)
2	The TEI's student WhatsApp group is a piece of good practice.	Lindisfarne (2020-21)
3	LKC models itself as a ‘learning community’, with the expressed aim of recognizing that tutors are able to learn from those who come to study as well as vice versa. This encourages honest feedback and a sense of shared ownership of the learning process.	LKC (2020-21)
4	The CMS “Conversations Day” is an effective way to promote research, encourage some students to present at workshops and generate material for the online journal, ANVIL.	RCC (2020-21)
5	Leeds School of Ministry:The first and last worship of term is led by a tutor (Eucharistic) whilst the sessions mid-term are student led in small groups to enable team work, and working across traditions well.	YTEP (2020-21)
6	The TEI implemented a new online processes to facilitate nominations and elections of student representatives with some success.	All Saints Centre (2020-21)
7	The TEI successfully facilitated more informal student contact online in response to the pandemic, including online meals, parties, post-study meeting spaces, worship spaces and online consultations between staff and students	YTEP (2020-21)
8	After unsuccessful attempts to secure attendance of more than one or two reps at CAMC meetings, the TEI introduced a system of receiving written reports which the enabled reps who could not attend to advocate more effectively for all students - this improved the quantity, focus and quality of feedback received.	YTEP (2020-21)

	Student feedback	TEI
1	Mechanisms used by the TEIs with the highest MEQ response rates included: · Providing a clear feedback loop, allowing students to see clearly, and early on that previous rounds of feedback have made a difference. Frequent, positive and timely communication with students and student reps is key. · Using specific ‘you said; we did’ initiatives, such as posters · Providing time to complete MEQs at the end of class, followed up with diligent reminders by tutors or administrative staff · Adding an evaluation tab to all modules in the VLE · Offering incentives such as gift certificates · Use of online tools such as the Moodle questionnaire tool or Microsoft Forms	Common Awards - General examples
2	The way that student feedback is solicited in a special form at the head of each submission continues to provide a very good means of monitoring student experience on the course.	All Saints Centre (2020-21)
3	Module feedback has been increased when the tutor can use the last 10 minutes of the final lecture giving students a chance to fill the questionnaires on their own devices	Cambridge Federation(2020-21)
4	Module feedback has also increased when students can see a clear feedback loop between their feedback given and the actions taken, e.g. "You said… we did" summaries	Cambridge Federation (2020-21)
5	Module feedback response rates have been improved when the tutor can make time during the final session of a module for students to complete the form.	Ripon College (2020-21)
6	The scheduling of student feedback reports at the start of the Management Committee agenda is an effective mechanism for championing the student voice within the TEI. In Guildford a student staff consultation process time changed to between worship and teaching – all students felt listened to and this worked much better. At Guildford and Winchester, they act on feedback when they recognise a theme over 3 years. There is wariness of setting expectations that we will ‘jump’ to left and back to the right when feedback varies from cohort to cohort. At Sarum and Winchester, feedback goes into the announcement space on Moodle. It is an efficient way of reminding students that they are being heard.	SCTEI (2021-22)
7	Module questionnaire rates - they achieve high rates using "polite but insistent reminders" and a general principle of a principle of expecting students to view contributing to module feedback as their responsibility.	SEI (2020-21)
8	Module questionnaire rates - much higher response rates are achieved when the students can be invited to fill in the surveys in person with an edible reward as incentive (they use doughnuts).	TBBC (2020-21)
9	The TEI adopted a system which is more specific in its call for feedback, inviting comments under these headings: Strengths: areas of consistent performance Development areas: aspects of current performance that we would ask the tutors to reflect upon Observations: general comments for reflection Innovations: aspects that we would suggest that would enrich the programme This format has helped to move the process away from a ‘list of complaints’ towards recognition of helpful strategies and realistic possible solutions.	SCTEI (2020-21)
10	The TEI ran a student survey via Survey Monkey midway through the first term of last year to provide a quick snapshot of how their adaption to dual-mode teaching was going. There was widespread participation and this offered swift feedback, unlike the more formal mechanisms of SSCC and MEQs which would have provided data significantly later in the teaching year. In the context of swift changes in the pandemic, the TEI would recommend the survey to other TEIs. At a smaller scale, this kind of quicker, informal, mid-stream feedback could be applicable at a range of levels from individual module to year to whole programme.	Cranmer Hall (2020-21)
11	Time was given over at a residential event to allow a summary of student feedback to be presented along with comments on how it has been responded to. The session also allowed informal voicing of any concerns current amongst the student body. Similarly, a summary of themes emerging from the CASS, and the responses to them, was circulated to all students	St Augustine's (2021-22)

	Responding to feedback	TEI
1	Following student responses to module evaluation sheets, in the summer, the third SSLC of the year compiles the Evaluation-Comment-Action sheets, for consideration and response by the Management Committee.	SWMTC (2020-21)
2	Timing for the submission of the Student Chapter Minutes to the staff team and for the subsequent staff responses (‘Action Points’) was set and this has been adhered to throughout the year; this ensures that any issues are responded to within a fortnight of the residential in question.	SEI (2020-21)
3	There is a session at residential weekends for ‘Feedback on Feedback’, which was well-received.	ERMC (2020-21)
4	The staff annual review sessions on group teaching and pre-reading were informed directly by student feedback which was gathered from free text responses from MEQs across the BA programme and across all levels and then presented to staff. This gave a very rich sense of what was and wasn’t working for the students, and also helped the TEI to identify issues that were wider than individual subject areas or modules, which is more than individual staff see in responding to their own MEQs.	Cranmer Hall (2021-22)