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Closing the feedback loop
Tom McMahon and Dr Danielle Sanderson from the UCL Bartlett School of Planning show how you can demonstrate the impact of students’ feedback.
19 October 2022
Related resources
There are several other steps colleagues can take to close the loop on student feedback in their part of UCL:
- Setting the tone in Term One – As part of welcome events and communications to new and returning students, departments should include information on how the cohort benefits from previous students’ feedback. Staff should circulate examples of how feedback from students (including in Module Dialogue and surveys) has shaped local changes. To do this, you may want to use the You Shaped UCL PowerPoint template available on the Templates & Guides webpage.
- Explaining what’s changed at the start of each Module - Module leaders should spend a few minutes in the first teaching session detailing how the module has evolved in response to student feedback. This will give students confidence in coming forward with their own feedback, as they know it can make a difference. The module leader should also outline the opportunities for students to give feedback over the duration of the module through Continuous Module Dialogue.
- Making the most of the Term One SSCC meeting - Staff-Student Consultative Committees are a vital tool in making changes in partnership with students and provide students reassurance that their feedback is valued.
- Before the meeting, staff SSCC Co-Chairs should share the minutes from previous SSCC meetings with the Reps due to attend the Term One SSCC meeting. This will help them prepare for the discussion and familiarise them with improvements that have already been implemented.
- After the meeting, the staff SSCC Co-Chair should follow up with students with a concise summary of the discussions and action points from the session. This only needs to be a few bullet points highlighting the key feedback from the meeting and how the department plans to respond. This could be posted on Shape UCL (Unitu) or a Moodle page then a notification/email sent to let the whole cohort know.
- Include links in Annual Programme Evaluations – Students will have an opportunity to reflect on their programme and offer their views through this annual, centrally managed survey. When sending out messages encouraging students to complete surveys, staff should include some examples of changes informed by student feedback. Along with the You Shaped UCL landing page, you could share local improvements from the ‘Together We Changed’ section of your Shape UCL (Unitu) board, or a Moodle page where a summary of actions or changes is included.
- Departmental summaries of survey results – Beginning with New to UCL in Term One, departments should share a top-level summary of their results in each of the student surveys carried out at UCL. The department should include the key points raised in the survey results and their ideas on how to respond to any issues.
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