Student Evaluation in Situated Practice—The Case of an Established Program

Abstract

In this chapter, the outcomes of the second case study centred on the elevated use of qualitative student evaluation data are detailed. Unlike the first case study, the program under investigation in this case was a well-established program with a long history of broadly successful educational outcomes. However, the program had recently undergone significant change, with its exclusive face-to-face mode of delivery disrupted with the introduction of a blended form of delivery, which incorporated significant online components. This disturbance—in an established program with a comparatively high level of tenured teaching staff—created considerable anxiety and produced a volatile pedagogical environment in which to elevate the significance of the student voice. This context provided a robust environment for testing the value (as well as the limits) of collaborative pedagogical discourses in a time of major education change. Overall, the case demonstrated that a deeper and more strategic engagement with the consequences of major education change can be effectively driven with the use of an elevated qualitative form of student feedback. However, although this can produce important pedagogical improvement, the histories of programs can mean this also may come at considerable cost to ongoing cohesion of teaching groups.