Module evaluation questionnaire project

Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) remains a current yet controversial topic in higher education research and practice with many participants questioning the validity and reliability of SET results (Ory, 2001). Research on SET has thus far failed to provide clear answers to several critical aspects concerning the validity of SET (Spooren et al, 2013). SET may be used for two purposes: institutional and local. Institutional SET is what university set the standard questionnaires and distribute them to all schools and departments, which is considered more traditional. The majority of SET research appears to focus on institutional level SET. Institutional SET is also often relied upon to evidence cases for promotion and is an important element of a teaching portfolio. Local SET, on the other hand, usually refers to what each school or department set its own questionnaires in addition to the Institutional SET. Local SET is implemented as a compliment to the institutional SET providing insight and feedback on specific disciplinary questions. This can lead to confusion as students may not understand the different purposes of institutional and local SET. In this report, we review the current Sussex SET practice and propose for revisions to the Module Evaluation Questionnaire (MEQ). Sussex SET is conducted by means of MEQ which is an important source of student feedback on teaching and learning. It belongs to an institutional type (we call it ‘University MEQ’) as it is set by the university institution-specific questions. However, many schools and departments also run local MEQs (we call it ‘local MEQs’). A major shortcoming of the University MEQ is that the current MEQ suffers from low response rates thereby reducing its usefulness and validity. In response to the limitations, local practices have grown to address the need for student feedback at a module level, however they may not be consistent year on year or across the university. This report consists of two main sections. The former is the literature reviews and the latter is the discussion and recommendations for consideration. Literature reviews are on the purpose, validity of MEQ. The report starts with the literature review summarising the purpose of SET.