Although the scores you give in surveys are very important, the detailed and constructive feedback you write in open free-text comments is most useful for staff to make changes and improvements.
As you know from receiving feedback on your own work, constructive and useful feedback has several characteristics.
Be honest
Tell us what you really think, not what you think will sound best or what other students might be saying. We want your opinion.
Your responses are anonymous in Online Unit Evaluations (OUEs) and the final year undergraduate National Student Survey (NSS), meaning your comments cannot be traced back to you. For other surveys like the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES), your responses are confidential to the Student Engagement Team but are anonymised before being released to academic and professional services staff. The Student Engagement Team will only break anonymity if there is a serious risk to student or staff wellbeing.
Be respectful
Always tell us what you genuinely think but remember that what you have written will have an impact on the person reading your comment. Your comments must be in line with the University’s Dignity and Respect Policy and Procedure otherwise action may be taken.
Be specific
You should write in as much relevant detail as possible. Use examples to emphasise your points.
Helpful comment:
The lecturer can sometimes be dismissive of questions and rushes through things, making it hard to follow. It puts me off participating in discussions.
Less helpful comment:
The lecturer’s style isn’t very good.
Include the positive and the negative
As well as saying what needs to change or improve, give details of what you enjoyed and what is working well so those aspects can be kept, enhanced and implemented in other units, courses or departments.
Be solution-focused
The most helpful feedback makes suggestions and gives ideas about what can be done better or differently next time.
Helpful comment:
It would be better to have more variety in assessment to help me develop and practice different skills and that are similar to the challenges I’ll be facing in my career.
Less helpful comment:
There are too many essays.
Suggest how to do better next time
Some changes can be made straightaway, but others may take time and resources which staff will want to work on with you. After reading your and your peers’ feedback, staff will have a much better understanding of the student experience.
Helpful comment:
More resources should be made available electronically, especially anything that is ‘core reading’. Courses should diversify their assessments so that we aren’t all trying to revise for exams or write coursework, which count for 100% of our grade, at the same time.
Less helpful comment:
Build another library.