An investigation into the use of student feedback in the shaping of the urriculum

An investigation into the use of student feedback in the shaping of the curriculum of the Business Foundation Degree.

Introduction and rationale This study examined student feedback on the Business Foundation degree course at Hertford Regional College (HRC) and focused on the relevance of the course content to the learners' needs. It aimed to determine whether students were expressing concerns about the course that were going unnoticed by lecturers and curriculum developers, resulting in a lack of necessary adjustments.

Recognizing the benefits of active student participation, curriculum developers are increasingly incorporating student feedback as a vital element in curriculum design, fostering engagement between students and curriculum developers.

Feedback from students is routinely gathered at different stages throughout the semesters of the Business foundation degree to assess student experience and progress.

In recent times, student enrolment on the programme has declined and the attendance of the present cohort of students has also dramatically fallen, leading to questions being raised about student engagement and the viability of the course.

This study has also probed students views about the quality and relevance of the course content and asked whether they felt they were being adequately prepared for future business roles and pursuits.

In the process, related and unintended questions were tentatively broached namely: 

How well marketed is the Business foundation degree by the college?



How viable is the Business Foundation degree programme at HRC?

Research Question The original research questions were:

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1. How can student feedback be used to shape the curriculum of the business foundation degree?

2. Do students feel the existing curriculum provides them with the skills tools and knowledge required for today’s business environment?

3. Could students input into curriculum development lead to improved engagement and outcomes for students on the business foundation degree?

The aims of the research were to: •

Examine feedback from past students for views about the suitability of the course content.

•

Garner views about the suitability and relevance of the existing content from the present

cohort of students •

Find out from students what changes could be made to the curriculum that might foster

increased engagement and motivation.

•

Find out from curriculum developers how student feedback is being used to shape content

and make it more responsive to learner purposes.

Literature Review Foundation Degrees

Foundation degrees were first introduced by the Department for Education & Schools in 2000, and degrees were originally tailored to meet local, national, and international employment needs, Harvey (2023).

The purpose of foundation degrees was (and is) to integrate academic and work-based learning, providing learners with skills relevant to employment. They aimed to increase access to education and promote lifelong learning.

A foundation degree (Fd) is equivalent to two-thirds of a bachelor’s degree and is worth 240 credits.

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It provides good opportunity to develop knowledge and skills that relate directly to the workplace, which can be topped to gain a bachelor’s degree at the end.

The Business Foundation Degree at HRC

Over the years, enrolment on the business foundation degree programme at Hertford Regional College has been on the decline.

Enrolments

2011/12

2013/14

2015/16

2017/18

2019/20

2021/22

2022/23

59

36

22

21

12

11

9

*Programme management stats 2023

Additional of questions of this research were: a. Could the decline in numbers be down to quality of the teaching? b. Is there a perception that foundation degrees are no longer worthwhile? Or c. Is this decline part of a wider trend away from these types of degrees?

Curriculum Design and Student Feedback

The term student feedback has different connotations. There is feedback to students (assessment of learning) and there is feedback from students about their experience on a course. It is otherwise called student evaluation.

Feedback can be defined as assessment by learners of the service provided by the institution, be it solely of the classroom experience or of all aspects of the learning experience, Harvey (2023).

Pro Student inclusion

Curriculum design can be a complex field of study that involves countless theories and pedagogies, but increasingly modern-day theorist and practitioners are agreed that since curricula are ultimately about the learners, they (the learners) should have some say in their formulation. Bovill, (2011) agrees and states that students can be co‐creators of teaching approaches, course design, and curricula. Jagersma (2010), goes even further stating that, ‘Students have been marginalized in the curriculum development process, despite education being intended for their growth and learning’.

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This idea is challenging to some purist and while this philosophy does not seek to turn novice learners into the experts on arrival in class, it moves them away from being passive, submissive passengers on their own learning journey.

The benefits of doing this are immense and include improved engagement and improved academic achievement and mutually beneficial, collaborative interactions with students very much taking ownership of learning.

For these reasons students feedback showed be garnered at key stages in the learning process.

Several models and approaches for incorporating student voice into curricula, are already at play and include: Student Surveys which are common methods for gathering student feedback. Actual surveys can be faced to face, online or paper based.

Focus Groups: These involve small group discussions with students to gather in-depth qualitative feedback. These sessions can be guided by a facilitator or unguided. Students are invited to express their thoughts, share experiences, and generate ideas for curriculum enhancement.

Student Panels or Advisory Committees: Here, students serve as representatives and voice their opinions, ideas, and concerns regarding the curriculum. Their input is considered when making significant modifications to the curriculum.

Collaborative Curriculum Design: Students collaborate with teachers and curriculum developers to co-create the curriculum, ensuring that their voices and perspectives are incorporated from the outset. This approach promotes student ownership and engagement.

Against Student inclusion

There are some dissenting arguments against increased student participation in the curriculum and many of these espouse the notion that empowering weak and marginal views to appear to be collaborative, weakens the entire curriculum structures.

Students who are used to teacher-dominated classrooms may resist, even boycott the process.

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Student input may appear to be merely tokenistic if views and opinions are discounted or overlooked.

Student engagement Student engagement is crucial for success in higher education, involving active interest, participation, and commitment to learning. Engaged learning emphasizes students' active role in the learning process, with recent calls for students to co-create their learning. Taking an active and participatory approach is believed to enhance learning processes and outcomes, promoting meaningful learning, breaking down power differentials, and fostering critical thinking.

Research Methodology Research Approach A mixed method, interpretivist approach was pursued in which questionnaires were sent out to present and past students asking them about their experiences on the course, the quality of the content and how well they believed the course matched their career aspirations.

A Faced-to-faced interview was held with the University of Hertfordshire’s, Acting Assistant Associate Dean – UK Partnerships in charge of Consortium Colleges.

A telephone interview was had with the former Programme Manager of the Business Foundation degree at Hertford Regional College, John Griffiths.

And interview questions were sent the Higher Education Development Manager at HRC, Katie Kennedy

Advantages Adopting this approach gave the advantage of being able to combine, even triangulate quantitative and qualitative data gained from questionnaires and interviews into a picture of complementary insights from which a comprehensive understanding of the issues could be gained, Dudovskiy (2011).

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Questionnaire Survey Ethical considerations Students were sent an email informing them about the research topic and purpose and were invited to participate. However, as I was still teaching the course being studied, potential conflicts and biases could have arisen. To address this, reassurances were provided that non-participation would not impact their grades, progress, or future opportunities within the course. Anonymity, confidentiality, and the right to withdraw at any stage were emphasized to ensure students felt comfortable providing honest feedback without fear of reprisal. No incentives were offered for completing the feedback form.

Students were informed that, all research data would be stored as an electronic copy in a secure password-protected file, that only I have access to. And that After my assignment has been submitted, marked, and awarded at the university Programme Award Board in August 2023 all data would be destroyed.

All relevant and applicable British Educational Research Association guidelines (BERA 2018) guidelines were adhered to.

An 18-point, questionnaire was constructed and mailed out via Microsoft Forms, a free online questionnaire app. The questions constructed using a popular Likert scale, and the following points were considered in construction: a. Clarity and simplicity, b. Avoidance of biased and leading language.

Space was also provided for open and additional comments.

Completed questionnaires were retuned via email through the same app which collected and complied the results. Anonymity and confidentially was maintained end to end.

Course administrators were also given the right to anonymity, but none availed themselves of that privilege.

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Questionnaire Survey Results

Six level 5 students, seven level 4 students and four past students were invited to take part in the survey. 17 surveys were emailed out of which 9 responded yielded a response rate of 53%. Survey response rates vary but a response rate of 53% is considered moderately good. Chung (2023) states, “A good survey response rate ranges between 5% and 30%. An excellent response rate is 50% or higher”, and Cleaver (2020) also agrees that “A survey response rate of 50% or higher is often considered to be excellent for most circumstances”.

Result Limitations Non-responder bias can be problematic if their characteristics are significantly different to the responders. In this case, because of anonymity, any special characteristics of the non-responders could not be ascertained.

Generalizability i.e., how indicative of the whole are the answers of respondents. In this regard it may be assumed that the responses of the respondents are characteristic of all HRC foundation degrees students but nay not be representative of foundation degree students at other colleges.

Survey Results (redacted)

When asked to rate the Foundation degree from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest rating, the responses were, 3 responded with a rating of 5, 4 responded with a rating of 4, 2 responded with a rating of 3.

Giving an overall average of 4.11 out of 5.

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11.1% of the respondents Neither agreed nor disagreed.

22.2% of respondents Agreed.

66.7% of respondents Strongly agreed.

89.9% of respondents Agreed and Strongly agreed!

44.4% of respondents Agreed that the lecturers explained the course material clearly.

55.6% of respondents Strongly agreed that the lecturers explained the course material clearly.

33.3% of respondents Agreed that the lecturers inspired interest in the subjects.

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66.7% of respondents Strongly agreed that the lecturers inspired interest in the subjects.

22.2% of respondents Neither agreed nor disagreed that the course lived up to their expectations.

77.8% of respondents Agreed that the course lived up to their expectations.

Summary of the Interview with Katie Kennedy, HE Manager, HRC. In an interview with Katie Kennedy, Higher Education Manager she stated the following:

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

Student feedback is crucial for the development of the Foundation degree course at Hertford Regional College.



Low response rates in course evaluation pose challenges in obtaining feedback from students.



Student Representatives fill out periodic feedback forms, which are shared at Programme Committee Meetings with the University of Hertfordshire.



Issues raised by students are considered for future solutions when appropriate.



Students are recognized as important stakeholders in curriculum design, but support and training are necessary to effectively gather their views.



A previous Foundation degree Business student was included in the panel for recent course revalidation meetings.



The challenge lies in helping students understand the importance of their feedback and recognizing the value of their opinions at this level of study.



By increasing awareness and providing further insights, response rates for feedback forms could be improved.

Conclusions and Recommendations In answers to research questions 1, 2 and 3 above, this probe can confidently deliver the following insights and make the following recommendations: I.

Student feedback is very much valued and incorporated into the curriculum design structures of the Business Foundation degree course at Hertford Regional College at various stages.

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II.

Despite, disappointing attendance rates by learners, good levels of satisfactions with the lecturers, course content and outcomes are prevalent. Past and present leaners think the programme delivers well.

Lecturers, Programme managers need to: 1. Emphasize to learners the importance of their feedback and its role in curriculum development.

2. Allocate class time for students to engage with class representatives, fostering open and unbiased feedback on their progress and course improvements.

3. Endeavour to increase integration of college-based learners with university programs and activities to enhance their university experience and connection with other foundation degree students.

4. Recognize students' appreciation for the standard of resources and quality of lectures, but address difficulties in attendance. Further investigations need to be conducted into reasons behind attendance issues; also, strongly consider online access to lectures and additional resources when lectures are missed.

College heads and senior leadership need to: 5. Prepare for upcoming changes in post-16 qualifications, possibly affecting the foundation degree program. Meanwhile, they should invest in marketing efforts to showcase the college's commitment to the program and attract learners seeking alternative routes to a full first degree.

(Word Count 2,197)

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References

Harvey, L., (2004-23) Analytic Quality Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/ accessed 01/06/23.

Catherine Bovill, Alison Cook‐Sather & Peter Felten (2011) Students as co‐creators of teaching approaches, course design, and curricula: implications for academic developers, International Journal for Academic Development, 16:2, 133-145, DOI: 10.1080/1360144X.2011.568690 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1360144X.2011.568690?needAccess=true accessed 01/06/23.

Jagersma, J., (22/12/2010) Empowering Students as Active Participants in Curriculum Design and Implementation, Institute of Education Sciences, (ERIC) https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED514196 accessed 01/06/2023.

John Dudovskiy,(2011) Business Research Methodology, Interpretivism (interpretivist) Research Philosophy, https://research-methodology.net/research-philosophy/interpretivism/ accessed 01/06/2023.

British Educational Research Association, (13 Aug 2019) Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research, fourth edition (2018)

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https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018online#withdraw accessed 01/06/2023.

Cleave P., 3/12/20 What Is a Good Survey Response Rate? Smart Survey, https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/blog/what-is-a-good-survey-response-rate accessed 01/06/2023.

Chung L., (2023) What is a good survey response rate for online customer surveys? Delighted https://delighted.com/ accessed 01/06/2023.

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Appendix 1 Full Interview with Katie Kennedy, H. E. Development Manager, Hertford Regional College.

Questions for Katie

1. How important is student voice (including student feedback and evaluations) to the development and improvement of the foundation degree courses?

This is very important and an important aspect of the revalidation. However, there are continuous challenges trying to get students to give feedback.

Also, Student Reps from each college on all UH programmes complete a Student Feedback form which is shared at Programme Committee Meetings with UH. I wonder how this is collected, as the student groups should be given time with their student rep. (without the tutor present) to discuss any issues and aspects that they want to raise regarding the course. All Student Rep. reports are shared and discussed at the Programme Committee Meetings, and issues raised are looked at for future solutions when appropriate.

2. The response rate of student feedback forms is notoriously low, in your opinion why is this?

Students, I believe, don’t always appreciate the importance of student feedback, and have not had the necessary ‘training’ to be able to give constructive feedback always. SVQs (Student Voice Questionnaires) completed on semester A and Semester B modules are usually collected when students are still working on modules, and students will not see the benefit of their feedback on these, so sometimes do not consider them, in my opinion to be important.

3. In this regard, do you think, the students think their feedback does not matter?

I do not think we do enough to support the students in understanding what happens with their feedback. Should staff be discussing more with students about how the course has been development with previous student feedback, so the students can see the value in it.

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4. How would you rate this method of garnering student feedback about the courses they have taken?

Giving students the time to complete the questionnaires in lessons in vital. Therefore, a discussion should be had before this time is given about the importance and how to give constructive feedback.

All so often you only get students completing these when they have an issue to raise, you don’t always hear about the positive aspects. Therefore, the method I feel is suitable, but it is how this is administered that is important.

5. What more could be done to improve the response rate of course evaluation forms?

See above.

6. What’s your views on collaborative curriculum design, where students participate in the design and development of the curriculum?

Absolutely, the students are an important stakeholder in curriculum design, but then again, support and training should be part of getting their views.

7.

Having just finished a round of course revalidation, what role did student feedback play in that process and how significant was it in the restructuring/revalidation of curricula and courses?

There was a previous student (FdA Business alumni) on the Panel that looks at all the documentation submitted for the validation and is part of the discussion and questioning process when the revalidation Panels are held.

Questionnaires, student discussions and feedback, and future student focus groups also form part of a UH validation.

The Ofs are regulators of quality and conditions of higher education. Have a look at the “Regulatory Framework for Higher Education in England” https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/1231efe3-e050-47b2-8e63-c6d99d95144f/ regulatory_framework_2022.pdf In particular look at Condition B2: Resources, support and student engagement, where the definition of ‘engagement’ is:

“engagement” means routine provision of opportunities for students to contribute to the development of their academic experience and their higher education course, in a way that maintains the academic rigour of that course, including, but not limited to, through membership of the provider’s committees, opportunities to provide survey responses, and participation in activities to develop the course and the way it is delivered.

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Appendix 2 Full Questionnaire Answers

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