Your view: student-tutor talk series 2022-2023

What did students value about their seminars and workshops in Term 1?

“Your view: student-tutor talk series” commenced in Term 1 of 2022-2023 where Business School students were invited to share positive experiences about their seminars and workshops with their tutors over pizza and a drink. Sharing positive feedback helps tutors know and reinforce what is working well, and more importantly the cross-sharing of best practice. The other purpose is to promote a culture of positivity in the School. Studies such as Boring et al. (2016) and Boysen (2020) have indicated that negativity bias is present and, in some cases, dominant in student evaluations. Babin and Zikmund (2015) and Otto, Samford and Ross (2008) suggested that survey respondents generally will prefer to either provide positive feedback or negative feedback rather than both due to self-selection bias. Oftentimes it seems when students are asked to provide feedback, they immediately think about suggestions for improvement and place less emphasis is on what has helped in improving their learning. The discussions that took place during the feedback sessions have been summarised into three key themes: feedback, teaching strategies and materials and other activities that help in-class engagement and preparedness.

Feedback

Students gave examples of feedback practice that they have found useful during and for their seminars. In terms of providing feedback during seminars, students mentioned that immediate feedback techniques such as Poll Everywhere quizzes, asking questions and eliciting verbal responses from students, using worksheets for discursive seminar questions, and, asking students to solve questions in their notes and giving individual feedback have been helpful in checking their understanding of concepts taught. Students also gave examples where feedback helped them prepare for the weekly seminar activities. For example, a module convenor used a ‘feedback-before-feedback’ approach where she provided feedback on students’ PowerPoint presentation slides before the actual student presentation took place during weekly seminars. This helped in reducing students’ anxiety as the presentations contributed to their final module grade.

Some tutors collected feedback at the end of each session to know what has helped and any suggestions that might help improve students’ learning and engagement. One example cited was a postgraduate module, where the tutor who was also the module convenor, collected feedback at the end of each seminar and students were given the opportunity to suggest materials to be covered in the following week’s seminar with the tutor’s guidance. Students indicated that this approach made them see themselves as stakeholders of their learning. 

Teaching strategies

Several strategies used by tutors last term have been identified by students as good practice. One phrase I heard in more than one of the feedback sessions was ‘empathetic tutor’. Students that used this phrase indicated that these tutors did not mind explaining a concept several times until students grasped it. They felt these tutors who used this approach genuinely care about improving students’ learning. Ice-breaker activities were helpful in improving student engagement. An example mentioned was an activity designed by the tutor to help students understand the process of thinking and executing a product design by using spaghetti sticks and marshmallows. Students mentioned that they understood better when the tutor linked abstract concepts to real life examples that were relatable during seminars and workshops. They value the use of business case studies in their seminars. For quantitative subjects, solving questions step-by-step on the whiteboard was preferred over showing the solution in a ‘Word’ document. They appreciated tutors who encouraged voluntary student presentations during their seminars and workshops.  Many students found seminars that linked the concept covered to the module assessments and marking rubric useful. This helped them understand how their work will be assessed and helped to build their confidence for the assessments.

Students spoke highly of tutors that encouraged critical and creative thinking during their seminars and workshops as they felt the need to actively prepare for such sessions. Students also found group discussions during seminars and workshops useful. Postgraduate students in particular expressed that they benefitted from the group discussions they had in Term 1 due to the diverse (work and cultural) experience of their peers.

Materials and other activities that help in-class engagement and preparedness.

Students value relevant additional materials that help improve their learning and prepares them for the seminar and workshop activities. Examples of materials cited include podcasts, videos, and further practice questions. Students also mentioned that informal discussions outside the classroom helps in-class engagement. An example cited was a module where the tutor encouraged weekly walks to the coffee shop during their workshop breaks. They mentioned that the discussions they had with their tutor at the coffee shop helped them feel more relaxed to engage in class.

Finally, some students mentioned that they prefer longer seminars or workshops and shorter lectures, for example, two-hour seminars and one-hour lecture or three-hour workshop and first year undergraduate students stressed on the benefits of smaller group learning.

Many thanks to all Heads of Departments, course directors, module convenors, seminar tutors and student representatives that supported the feedback sessions last term. Positive feedback was reiterated in the mid-term module evaluation for the department where the feedback session took place before week 5. Departmental student-tutor talk sessions for Term 2 starts in Week 3. Please encourage your students to emphasise what has helped improve their learning by promoting this event to your students and attending the event to hear from your students. Please contact Dr Seun Osituyo by email at O.Osituyo@sussex.ac.uk if you have any questions.

Feedback from a seminar tutor who attended one of the feedback sessions in Term 1:

"The student -tutor talk session was efficiently organized and well-planned.  The session was held in a warm and friendly environment that encouraged students to interact openly and in a genuine manner with faculty to reflect and comment on the positive experiences they have had in classrooms and beyond at Sussex. The session was well-attended and productive. I believe such sessions are very useful in helping build a healthy student-teacher dialogue and encouraging students to appreciate the value of the positive aspects of their student experience." – Dr Sarada Krishnan, Senior Lecturer in Accounting

References

Babin, B. J., & Zikmund, W. G. (2015). Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.

Boring, A., & Ottoboni, K. (2016). Student evaluations of teaching (mostly) do not measure teaching effectiveness. ScienceOpen Research.

Boysen, G. A. (2020). Student Evaluations of Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology.

Otto, J., Sanford Jr, D. A., & Ross, D. N. (2008). Does ratemyprofessor.com really rate my professor?. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(4), 355-368.