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Inviting qualitative feedback from students in informal settings can be very effective, in conjunction with data and insight from surveys.
Surveys are a great starting point for identifying trends and understanding where there might be issues or success stories. Further ways to gather feedback from students could include focus groups, online workshops or the Student Experience Panel, but not all conversations need to happen in formal settings. In fact some departments find that a simple regular coffee morning is the most transformative activity they’ve initiated.
Gathering further feedback can be beneficial in different ways:
- Discussing surprising survey results can help provide context
- Workshops or hackathons provide an opportunity to explore solutions together
- Timely or regular events mean you don’t need to wait until the next survey cycle to engage with students and hear their feedback
- Facilitating dialogue between students and staff helps everyone feel valued.
Student Experience Panel
The Student Experience Panel is a community of around 1,000 UCL students who have registered their interest in providing ad-hoc feedback on UCL initiatives and projects.
These students eceive an email newsletter around every six weeks offering a number of opportunities for engagement, such as focus groups or online polls.
Current members self-select from a range of levels, disciplines and years. Students do not go through a training process as the focus is on seeking views from students without prior knowledge of university strategy or decision-making processes.
Who can propose activities to the Panel?
Activities can be proposed by professional services staff and staff from the Vice-Provost offices.
These should focus on UCL-wide initiatives, or non-academic aspects of the student experience such as support services and facilities. The Student Experience Panel should not be used for department or faculty-specific academic research.
Staff can seek feedback from the Panel in a variety of ways including focus groups, user testing or asking them to take part in phone interviews.
Incentives for students
Students are more likely to participate if an incentive is offered. Incentives can range from vouchers, cash, free lunch or coffee. Generally, incentives for students should be worth at least £10 for each hour of their time.
Use our online form to submit your opportunities for the Panel.
Focus groups
If you're looking to gather qualitative feedback, you can organise focus group sessions for students.
These sessions are useful for understanding the reasons behind preferences and exploring participants' reactions to the topic under discussion.
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Workshops and testing
You can get useful insights from the student panellists by running workshops or test sessions, in which the participating students are encouraged to go through a particular ‘user journey’.
Or you could hold regular informal events that don’t focus on feedback specifically but do help to support ongoing dialogue with staff and students.
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