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| University of Cambridge > Engineering Department > computing help |
With 200-300 students in each year, organising a paper-based questionnaire becomes prohibitively time-consuming. Fortunately our students have at least some familiarity with computers, we have many computer terminals available to undergraduates, and we have on-site programmers. So in 1990 the Teaching Office suggested that a computer-based survey should be produced. We now use computers to get various types of input from students that in the past were done using paper. We haven't yet reached 'questionnaire fatigue' levels, but response levels drop as the students get older.
All years are invited to do an online survey. It is easy to run - they type "survey" or click on the survey icon. For each course this asks about the quality of presentation and handouts, whether the work was too hard or too quickly presented, and whether the examples papers took too long. Then there are sections asking about coursework, supervisions and the course as a whole. Finally students have a chance to comment on whatever they like.
The results are processed into histograms that are widely distributed amongst academic staff. The comments are passed to the lecturers concerned via the Teaching Office.
A whole survey takes over 15 minutes to fill in, but students can fill it in a little at a time. It's important to balance the need for extensive information with the need to make the questionnaire quick and easy to complete.
Input is treated as anonymous. This has many advantages. The disadvantage is that staff can't reply to, or ask for more information from, the students.
We encourage participation by offering prizes, reminding students at lectures, reminding them when they log in, and putting up posters. Response rates have in general been falling
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| 1995 | 75% | 57% | 90% | |
| 1996 | 80% | 48% | 72% | 50% |
| 1997 | 49% | 40% | 48% | 34% |
| 1998 | 63% | 56% | 55% | 48% |
| 1999 | 43% | 33% | 27% | 28% |
| 2000 | 27% | 21% | 18% | 16% |
| 2001 | 21% | 22% | 18% | 12% |
| 2002 | 33% | 22% | 25% | 20% |
| 2003 | 22% | 18% | 17% | 8% |
| 2004 | 51% | 37% | 35% | 30% |
The first surveys were handcrafted using Xlib graphics. The Teaching Office provided the list of questions that they wanted asking. When details change little from year to year, little work is involved by the Teaching Office or the Computer Staff. With the change from a 3 year to a 4 year course however, it's been harder to reduce the workload on the programmers. However, now that the syllabus has stablised we have developed other methods of getting student input with minimal programmer effort.
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| | computing help | |