Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) surveys are commonly used to measure student learning experience in higher education institutions (Spooren et al., 2013). SET surveys are typically administered at a subject level toward the end of a teaching period, with students encouraged to answer Likert-scale questions as well as provide rich comments that explain these scores and recommend improvements (Cunningham-Nelson et al., 2020). The qualitative comment component of SET survey results is often the most useful data for driving teaching, curriculum, and assessment enhancements. This is due to the specific detail and contextual information that can guide strategic actions. However, in recent years, there has been a growing focus on student experience as a key performance metric for higher education institutions. To improve satisfaction metrics (which are measured numerically), it would be useful to understand the relationship between the topics qualitatively discussed by students and their corresponding satisfaction scores. This can support educators and strategic leaders to focus their efforts on those areas that have the greatest influence on satisfaction scores, thus maximising impact within resourcing and time constraints.
PURPOSEThe purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the topics discussed by students in SET surveys and their corresponding scores in Bachelor of Engineering subjects at a large Australian University. Specifically, the research questions are:1. What attributes/characteristics do students discuss most frequently in SET surveys? 2. How do these attributes/characteristics relate to overall satisfaction scores in SET surveys?
APPROACHSET survey results for subjects offered in the Bachelor of Engineering degree taught between 2016 and 2019 at the Queensland University of Technology were extracted. Key subject attributes and educator characteristics were searched for within the text data using lists of phrases. The chi-square test was used to test association between a topic being mentioned and the satisfaction outcome (either positive or negative).
OUTCOMES AND CONCLUSIONSThe subject attribute that students mentioned most frequently was teaching quality. The most frequently mentioned educator attribute was organised. Student comments mentioning approachable or engaging terms were more be associated with a positive satisfaction score. These results provide insight into areas which may be targeted to most positively influence student satisfaction scores.