Sparq at CIT is being undertaken with the expert input of SPARQS (Student Partnership in Quality, Scotland) Office, Edinburgh, Scotland. SPARQS have a wealth of resources on their website which provide direction and support for our work at CIT.
STUDENT LEARNING EXPERIENCE
The Student Learning Experience is an excellent tool to help break down the learning experience into smaller, more manageable areas. Class Representatives and teaching staff can target specific areas of the learning experience for sparqs at CIT events or meetings. It is possible to use the headings of the Student Learning Experience for other student engagement activities, such as agenda items for course-specific meetings, surveys and planning work.
The A,B,C,D of Effective Feedback.
Used in Class Representative Training, this feedback model provides a fair and effective way for representatives to communicate with teaching staff.
Accurate:
- "I have had a discussion with my class group and we agreed by show of hands of 29/31 feel that our in-class tests are set too early in the semester
Instead of:
- "I have spoken to some of my friends in the class. In our opinion, our in-class tests are set too early in the semester."
Balanced:
- "The lectures are delivered in a really interesting way and the content is very understandable according to the majority of the class (29/31) but they also felt it would really help if there was extra reading material and relevant YouTube clips given to supplement their study."
Instead of
- "There’s a huge problem getting supplementary learning materials for that class."
Constructive:
- "Our class group are keen for lecturers from X module and Y module to meet and have an agreed plan of work and assessments given to us at the beginning of each semester to prevent any overlap.
Instead of
- "We have 2 modules where there is huge overlap. We’re learning the same theory in 2 different ways. The lecturers clearly have no idea what they’re doing."
De-personalised:
- "Our class group (31/31) feel that feedback from our recent test was too vague for us to understand the standard of work that’s expected at this level."
Instead of:
- "Our class group think feedback here is a joke".
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THE FEEDBACK LOOP
Closing the feedback loop refers to the process of letting students and staff know how their comments has been used. It shows that discussions were taken seriously and that they have provided ideas for changes.
