Tag Archives: Student Voice

News

Student voice a “powerful informer” of business and management education transformation, says new Explorance report

A report published by Explorance has provided fresh insight on the role of student voice and ways this can help to deliver transformational business and management education.

The first issue of Feedback Matters, which explores how student feedback – including through course and module evaluation surveys – influences institutional enhancement, is a Business and Management Education Focus Report.

It convenes in-depth thinking from experts in business schools and university-based business and management faculties around the world and shares strategies underpinning student insight; differentiated approaches to capturing, and responding to, student feedback; and specific challenges and how these are being addressed.

The report also highlights best practice case studies on student voice policy and practice and delves into the future for teaching and learning in business and management education, including how student feedback will support this evolution.

Feedback Matters: Business and Management Education Focus Report features authored contributions from senior academic and professional staff at Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University; The University of Newcastle, Australia (Newcastle Business School); Stockholm School of Economics; University of Edinburgh Business School; and School of Business, The American University in Cairo.

“We help business schools and university-based business and management faculties improve teaching and learning through the way they derive, analyse and respond to student feedback,” said John Atherton, General Manager (Europe and Africa) at Explorance. “There is a wide cross-section of expertise we can draw on, from all over the world, on business and management education – and an opportunity for us to support the development of this community, hence us putting together this report.”

Writing in the report, Professor Jennifer Milam, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic Excellence) in the Vice-Chancellor’s Division at The University of Newcastle, Australia (Newcastle Business School), said: “The University embarked upon a cultural shift in how we use course and teacher evaluations to drive excellence and measure the impact of our university. By increasing the reliance on the student voice, the University has created a successful performance development process that encourages, nurtures and rewards individuals for their impact on their students and the wider community.”

Meanwhile, Angela Guadagno, PhD (Academic Associate, Teaching and Learning Services), at Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, revealed: “McGill University has a long history of valuing student input on course evaluations, and has developed a system that allows instructors to personalise some of the questions they ask. We plan to continue gathering feedback from students through course evaluations, questionnaires, focus groups and midsemester feedback. Midsemester feedback is particularly valuable to instructors because it allows instructors to make changes and benefit the students who gave the feedback, rather than future students.”

Sherif Kamel, Professor of Management and Dean of the School of Business at The American University in Cairo, added: “The future of learning will continue to change, but student voice will be a powerful informer of that change.”

Student representatives also reinforced the need for universities to take their views on board. At the University of Edinburgh Business School, which recently implemented a new Student Voice policy, current Undergraduate School Representative Florence Barnard and former Undergraduate School Representative Pippa Gosden jointly commented: “The Business School is placing increasing emphasis on the importance of feedback in improving student experience. As a student you feel your voice is being heard. It is especially rewarding when the School listens and acts upon our advice.”

Explorance works with Aarhus University School of Business and Social Sciences, Copenhagen Business School, Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies, Emlyon Executive School, ESA Business School, ESSEC Business School, Grenoble IAE, HEC Paris, IE Business School, IESE Business School, INCAE Business School, McGill University (including Desautels Faculty of Management), Montpellier Business School, Norwegian School of Economics, Presido Graduate School, Simon Business School, Stockholm School of Economics and Villanova University School of Business.

John added: “The report shows just how seriously student voice is being taken and how business schools and university-based business and management faculties are collecting and responding to feedback about different aspects of the experience at different points in time. It is also clear that student ownership and engagement is fundamental to the success of this process.”

Education, News

“Continuous improvement” the driver as University of Buckingham appoints Explorance to programme evaluations brief

The University of Buckingham, the oldest private university in England and pioneer of the two-year accelerated degree, has awarded Explorance a contract to help deliver its programme evaluations following a competitive tender.

As part of an institutional review of quality and compliance, the University identified an opportunity to “rethink how we do evaluation processes” and sought a different approach. “We previously used paper-based evaluations, but that was no longer an option with the enforced move to online learning, and we wanted a system that would support engagement with quality and compliance processes and help foster a university-wide culture of continuous improvement,” explained University Assistant Registrar (Academic Compliance) Anita Wise.

Having invited three organisations to respond to the tender, Explorance was selected by a university working group which determined that its Blue course evaluation software was “the best fit” for programme evaluations. Anita said: “I first became aware of Blue when I attended a webinar on student surveys, led by students, whose message was basically ‘stop surveying us so much and tell us what you do with the information’. Explorance’s response showed how they would address that. With Blue, students get their own dashboard that shows surveys all in one place, they can start and stop these surveys at their own pace, and we thought that would really appeal. There is also a dashboard for Faculty administrators and academics to track engagement and results for programmes. It is really user-friendly and will be integrated with Moodle, our virtual learning environment.”

Anita added that whilst Faculties will continue to run module evaluations for the short-term, the institution planned to “grow” Explorance Blue to use it for all surveys across the University and Students’ Union, with exit surveys to follow next. “The programme survey itself reflects the National Student Survey (NSS),” she revealed. “We are surveying students four times in their two-year degrees, beginning in the spring and autumn terms of their first year using Blue which give us an idea of how they may respond to the NSS and allow us time to make changes as needed. Then in the spring term of their second year they will complete the NSS followed by an exit survey in their final term using Blue. So, four trigger points, three involving Blue.”

She also outlined how Explorance Blue would deliver “a better set of data for decision-makers” from evaluations, thus informing progress against related KPIs in the University strategy. “We hope our work with Explorance will lead to tangible change, in terms of using data from Blue and give us the necessary longitudinal analysis to make sustainable future-proof decisions,” Anita added. “We have designed a wider continuous improvement cycle, with the aim of results from Blue being shared within two weeks to both the students, academics and professional services staff. School assessment, learning and teaching committees will take these results and create a quality improvement plan (QIP), which will then flow into the Faculty boards to review the collective QIPs looking at common ground for development across the Faculty, and publishing a ‘you said/we did’ update to students.”

The Faculty QIPs will in turn, be reviewed at the University assessment, learning and teaching committee to consider institutional-wide improvements.

John Atherton, General Manager – Europe and Africa, at Explorance, added: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with the University of Buckingham during a time of strategic change and shift to a culture of continuous improvement for the institution. It is empowering, from our perspective, to be able to provide the University with the data to drive decision-making and therefore make a real difference.”

In the UK, Explorance now supplies its Blue or Bluepulse software to 19 universities: Aberdeen, Birkbeck – University of London, Brighton, Bristol, Buckingham, Cardiff, Coventry, Durham, Glasgow Caledonian, Kingston, Leeds, Liverpool John Moores, Loughborough, Nottingham Trent, Northumbria, Sheffield, Strathclyde, Worcester and the University of Law.

Explorance is on the APUC multi-supplier UK education sector framework for the supply of student module evaluation systems and associated services to HE and FE institutions of Scotland. The framework agreement is also open to member institutions within the UK universities procurement consortia meaning they too can use the framework and have the option to appoint Explorance directly as the ranked number one supplier via APUC.