Student Evaluation of Subjects and Teaching Policy
Intent
一本道 is committed to a University-wide approach to gathering feedback from students about their experiences of subjects and teaching and providing a timely response in consideration of their feedback.
This policy sets out the use of institutional survey instruments (Your一本道Subject and Your一本道Teaching Surveys) to provide insights into the 一本道student experience of subjects and teaching for the primary purpose of enhancing the quality of subjects and teaching. The institutional surveys provide a mechanism for students, as stakeholders, to contribute to the continuous improvement of subjects and teaching.
Institutional survey data also supports benchmarking capability against sector wide student experience data and provides one source of evidence of teaching performance in curriculum review, recruitment, performance development and promotions processes.
Scope
This policy applies to the collection and use of Your一本道Survey data for all enabling, sub-degree, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework subjects taught at 一本道.
Definitions
Your一本道Subject Survey: an online survey deployed to students towards the end of a study period to collect feedback on their learning experiences within a subject.
Your一本道Teaching Survey: an online survey deployed to students towards the end of a study period to collect feedback on a student’s experience of teaching within a subject. Teaching staff (other than 一本道Singapore) must opt-in for a teaching survey to be deployed. 一本道Singapore teaching staff will be automatically opted in to the Your一本道Teaching survey.
Your一本道Survey Suite: a set of surveys constructed to seek feedback on the student experience of subjects and teaching, comprising: Your一本道Subject Survey and Your一本道Teaching Survey
TRDB: Teaching Roles Data Base. Information contained in this database determines the relationship a teaching staff member has with a subject for survey purposes.
Teaching Staff: staff listed in the TRDB as a Subject Coordinator, Lecturer or Tutor
Principles
This policy is articulated according to six principles:
- Feedback on the student learning experience will be collected for all campuses, modes and study periods offered by the University.
- Students have rights and responsibilities in relation to providing and receiving Your一本道Survey data.
- Teaching staff have rights and responsibilities in relation to receiving and acting upon Your一本道Survey data.
- Divisions and Colleges have rights and responsibilities in relation to receiving and acting upon Your一本道Survey data.
- Participation by a representative sample of the student cohort is fundamental to obtaining reliable Your一本道Survey data.
- More than one source of evidence is required for evaluating and enhancing the quality of subjects and teaching
Policy
1. Feedback on the student learning experience is collected for all eligible subjects across campuses, modes and study periods.
1.1 Each study period, all 一本道coursework subjects with current enrolments will be surveyed via the Your一本道Subject Survey.
1.2 Teaching staff must opt-in to participate in a student evaluation of their teaching via the Your一本道Teaching Survey at least once per calendar year.
1.3 The Your一本道suite of surveys is the primary instrument used for the collection of data from students about their experiences of subjects and teaching at JCU. The use of any survey instruments other than Your 一本道surveys is solely the responsibility of the academic staff administering them and should be done in consideration of other institutional surveys that may be in progress, as per the Your一本道Survey Calendar.
2. Students have rights and responsibilities in relation to providing and receiving Your一本道Survey data.
2.1 Students have the right to:
a) Access a personalised, secure and easy to use platform for providing confidential feedback on subjects and teaching practices;
b) Receive aggregate Your一本道Subject Survey reports in accordance with the Your一本道Survey Distribution List;
c) Be informed that Your一本道Survey data will be collected and used for the purposes of enhancing the quality of learning and teaching and may also be used for promotion applications and excellence awards;
d) Be informed about the changes made to learning, teaching and assessment design, in response to previous cohorts’ Your一本道Survey data, in the subject outline;
e) Be informed about what constitutes effective and constructive feedback to support continuous quality improvement of subjects and teaching and in accordance with the Student Charter.
2.2 Students have a responsibility to:
a) Provide considered and constructive feedback about their experiences of subjects and teaching in accordance with the Student Charter.
b) Provide feedback in a manner consistent with the University’s expectations of students in respect of academic, personal and professional behaviour identified in the Student Code of Conduct.
3. Teaching staff have rights and responsibilities in relation to receiving and acting upon Your一本道Survey data.
3.1 Teaching staff have the right to:
a) Receive Your一本道Survey reports in accordance with the Your一本道Survey Distribution List;
b) Submit a written request to the Manager, Education Quality and Evaluation for the removal or redaction of open-ended Your一本道Survey responses if they include malicious comments including threatening, intimidating, abusive or discriminatory content. Student feedback that is negative but not malicious is not eligible for removal after publication.
3.2 Teaching staff have a responsibility to:
a) Inform students of actions undertaken regarding learning, teaching and assessment design in response to Your一本道Subject data in the subject outline for the subsequent year of subject delivery.
4. Divisions and Colleges have rights and responsibilities in relation to receiving and acting upon Your一本道Survey data.
4.1 Divisions and Colleges have the right to receive Your一本道Survey reports in accordance with the Your一本道Survey Distribution List.
4.2 Divisions and Colleges have a responsibility to:
a) Participate in determining benchmarks for Your一本道Survey results at different year levels and cohort sizes (as endorsed by Education Committee);
b) Acknowledge staff who achieve high student satisfaction scores or have demonstrated significant improvement in satisfaction scores;
c) Identify subjects that have received low student satisfaction scores. These subjects will be reviewed in accordance with the Academic Quality Framework and Processes to enhance the quality of learning and teaching.
5. Participation by a representative sample of the student cohort is fundamental to obtaining reliable Your一本道Survey data.
5.1 Student participation in the Your一本道Survey suite will be promoted by teaching staff, Course Coordinators and College Deans.
5.2 Innovative and appropriate communication strategies will be used across the institution to promote the Your一本道survey suite to all students to facilitate strong response rates.
6. More than one source of evidence is required for evaluating and enhancing the quality of subjects and teaching.
6.1 All Your一本道surveys are conducted within the context of the subject being taught. As a consequence, interpretation of subject and teaching feedback needs to consider the impact of contextual variables on the scores obtained and comments made, before conclusions are reached.
6.2 More than one source of evidence is required for evaluating and enhancing the quality of subjects and teaching. Teaching staff are required to collect and document multiple forms of evidence of the quality of subjects and teaching (e.g. evidence of student learning, evidence of curriculum enhancement or transformation, evidence from peer review and scholarship of learning and teaching and other relevant professional indicators. See the 4Q Model of Evaluation ).
6.3 Your一本道Subject and Teaching Survey Likert-scale results, as well as Your一本道Subject Survey open-ended responses, will be incorporated into annual Performance and Development Planning conversations for all teaching staff.
6.4 Your一本道Subject and Teaching Survey data will be incorporated into the three yearly peer review of a subject’s assessment plans and grading practices as well as the cyclical three year subject review in accordance with the Academic Quality Framework and Processes (see also Learning, Teaching and Assessment Procedures 2.4.2).
6.5 Your一本道Survey data must not be used as the sole source of evidence for decisions regarding promotion, tenure or contract renewal.
6.6 Any use of Your一本道Survey data for research purposes must be supported by an Ethics Approval Notice from the 一本道Human Research Ethics Committee.
Related policy instruments
Student Evaluation of Subjects and Teaching Procedure
Your一本道Survey Distribution List
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy
Related documents and legislation
Administration
NOTE: Printed copies of this policy are uncontrolled, and currency can only be assured at the time of printing.
Approval Details
Policy Domain | Academic Governance |
Policy Sub-domain | Learning and Teaching |
Policy Custodian | Deputy Vice Chancellor, Education |
Approval Authority | Academic Board |
Date for next Major Review | 08/11/2026 |
Revision History
Version | Approval date | Approved by | Implementation date | Details | Author | |
24-1 | 31/07/2024 | DVC Education | 01/08/2024 | Minor amendments throughout to remove reference to discontinued Your一本道on the Pulse surveys. Updated title of Manager, Quality Assurance and Evaluation to Manager, Education Quality and Evaluation. | CEE Operations Coordinator | |
23-1 | 12/05/2023 | DVC Education | 15/05/2023 | Minor amendment to Contact Person and clause 3.1(b) roles switched from Dean, CEE to Manager, Quality Assurance and Evaluation | Manager, Divisional Administration | |
22-1 | 08/11/2021 | Academic Board | 01/01/2022 | Major review. Amended to align with policies, delete references to analytics, added definitions, reviewed and updated distribution list | Dean, Learning, Teaching and Student Engagement | |
17-2 | 06/11/2017 | 10/11/2017 | Major review simplifying policy, removing procedural content, establishing principles and including reference to student Learning Analytics | Manager, Student Success Learning, Teaching and Student Engagement | ||
17/1 | 19/06/2017 | 28/07/2017 | Increase clarity and alignment between SELT Policy and the associated Distribution List; Support the use of Your一本道Subject and Your一本道Teaching Survey data in the PDP process. New paragraph inserted enabling abusive, disparaging or unacceptable comments to be redacted. | Manager, Student Success Learning, Teaching and Student Engagement | ||
16-3 | 29/05/2017 | 30/05/2017 | Minor amendments to ensure alignment with the Student Experience of Learning & Teaching (YourJCU) Distribution List and to clarify use and sharing of Your一本道Teaching Survey data | Manager, Student Success Learning, teaching and Student Engagement |
Keywords | Learning, Teaching, feedback, quality enhancement, YourJCU |
Contact person | Manage, Education Quality and Enhancement |