Student input is an essential component of any university’s continuous improvement efforts, both in terms of providing formative feedback to instructors and in terms of providing summative feedback that contributes to decisions related to performance reviews, tenure, and promotion.
About the Student Course Perceptions survey
The Student Course Perceptions survey was designed as a "cascaded" model, with one set of core questions aligned with institutional priorities and an opportunity for individual faculties and departments to add more focused questions as needed.
Core (institutional) questions
The core questions were developed after extensive background research, consultation, and discussion, and have been reviewed by a number of campus stakeholders and stakeholder groups. They map to the University of Waterloo's strategic priorities and also align with focus group input from students in all six faculties.
- The instructor(s) helped me to understand the course concepts. (strongly disagree to strongly agree).
- The instructor(s) created a supportive environment that helped me learn (Supportive environments enable students to feel included and valued regardless of any aspect of their identity). (strongly disagree to strongly agree).
- The instructor(s) stimulated my interest in this course. (strongly disagree to strongly agree).
- The intended learning outcomes were identified (Learning outcomes/objectives articulate what students should be able to know, do, and/or value by the end of a course). (strongly disagree to strongly agree).
- The course activities prepared me for the graded work. (strongly disagree to strongly agree).
- The intended learning outcomes were assessed through my graded work. (strongly disagree to strongly agree).
- *The workload demands for this course were ... (very low to very high)
- The most important thing I learned in this course was … (open-ended)
- What helped me to learn in this course was …(open-ended)
- What changes, if any, would I suggest for this course? (open-ended)
* Question 7 measures student perception of course workload. Scores to this question will provide additional context for instructors seeking to understand their scores. This measure can also be used as a proxy for student mental health and well being. This score is standalone and will not be included in the average score for "design" or "implementation." Note: Despite the widespread assumption that students prefer courses that are easy and have a small workload, University of Waterloo-based pilot test and focus group data suggest that students actually prefer courses they find challenging and engaging and that have an average or high workload. The TAP office will continue to monitor responses to this survey question.
How were these questions designed?
The core survey questions were developed with input from the following sources:
- a comprehensive literature review
- evidence-based principles of effective teaching
- consultations with administrators of teaching assessment processes at other Canadian universities
- focus groups with students from all six faculties
- the largest pilot test of its kind, to date, including 41,737 SCP survey responses from 2,196 courses across all six faculties and two affiliated institutions.
Will these questions change?
They might, depending on input that the TAP team receives as well as data trends as the university starts using the surveys. Administering the same survey across the entire campus will allow the university to track trends centrally, which should bring gaps and flaws to the surface so that they can be addressed. If the data highlight problems with any of the questions, the TAP team will review it thoroughly and make changes as needed.
Faculty and department questions
The Teaching Assessment Processes team is working with each faculty to determine whether whether additional questions would be helpful. The development process includes a series of consultations during which time participants work together to develop questions with support and guidance from the TAP team.
Advantages of the new Student Course Perceptions survey
In addition to undergoing ongoing monitoring by the Teaching Assessment Processes team, including longitudinal analysis of the survey’s performance and concerns related to bias, the University of Waterloo's Student Course Perceptions (SCP) survey is:
Designed to capture students’ perceptions of their learning experience. Students are uniquely positioned to provide feedback about specific aspects of their learning experience. The SCP survey was not designed to evaluate student learning or to be an objective measure of teaching quality.
Grounded in evidence-based scholarship. Tailored to the Waterloo context. The core survey questions were developed with input from the following sources:
- a comprehensive literature review
- evidence-based principles of effective teaching
- consultations with administrators of teaching assessment processes at other Canadian universities
- focus groups with students from all six Faculties
- the largest pilot test of its kind, to date, including 41,737 SCP survey responses from 2,196 courses across all six Faculties and two affiliated institutions.
Designed to collect perceptions of the same items from each faculty. Use of core survey items will enable us to understand what is going on across the board at Waterloo. Subsequent phases of this project will enable individual Faculties, departments, and instructors to add additional questions. All additional questions will be pilot tested before they are used for summative assessments.
Suitable for a variety of course formats and teaching methods. Questions are applicable for face-to-face, blended, and online courses incorporating a variety of teaching strategies.
Intended to be balanced by complementary teaching assessments. Guidelines for the use of complementary teaching assessment processes (including teaching dossiers and peer review) are in development.