Course Teaching Feedback

Course teaching feedback surveys use standardised questionnaires, which are formally reviewed and revised by the University’s Teaching, Learning and Student Experience Committee (TLSEC).

No personalised or customised questions may be added to SECaT and SETutor surveys. 

Refer to Section 9 of the Procedure for the list of SECaT and SETutor questions. 

For SECaT surveys

SECaT surveys are administered for every course with 5 or more (≥5) enrolments each time it is taught, and for every lecturer with a Threshold Teaching Load (defined in Section 8 of the Procedure) on a course entered in UQ’s curriculum management system (i.e. Jac). 

SECaT surveys for the same course (by Course Code) with multiple scheduled classes (Class Number) are to be merged automatically if one of the scheduled classes has fewer than 5 enrolments. When the merged survey receives 5 or more responses, course coordinators will receive the report with merged responses. For further details for merged surveys, please contact evaluations@uq.edu.au.

For SETutor surveys

SETutor surveys are administered at the course level with 5 or more (≥ 5) enrolments, with 1 SETutor evaluation per Tutor (defined in Section 8 of the Procedure), per course. This includes where the Tutor delivers multiple tutorials/laboratories across different modes of instruction for one course. 

To mitigate survey fatigue for student cohorts, a SETutor survey should not be administered for a staff member if they are evaluated as a lecturer in a SECaT survey for the same course during the same evaluation period (please refer to para 19 of the Procedure).

SECaT and SETutor surveys will be generated for courses with 5 or more students enrolled.

If your course has fewer than 5 students, refer to the Assuring and Enhancing Course and Teaching Quality Guideline for a list of informal student feedback tools to solicit feedback from students. These tools allow for customised question sets.

Data collected via these tools are only for your own personal feedback, and will not be reported via formal mechanisms (e.g. UQ Reportal) or shown in your Individual Academic Profile (IAP).

Increasing response rate

Listen to how other UQ teaching staff improve their SECaT response rate

Listen to how other UQ teaching staff encourage constructive student feedback

It's good practice to encourage your students to participate by doing the following before and during the evaluation period:

• Give notice that online evaluation will begin soon (e.g. inform students to check their student email accounts on the week that evaluations open, and the ‘Have Your Say’ module on the welcome page of Blackboard).
• Tell students why evaluations are conducted and what they're used for. You can use the promotion slide with QR code (PPTX, 317.1 KB).
• Set aside class time for students to use their own device to complete the evaluation. Academics that use this approach have been found to achieve higher response rates than those who don't set aside class time.

Key message communicated with students

The following message can be used to communicate with your students:

Staff will receive an email with their course teaching feedback reports on the Monday following the official release date of final grades each semester, as specified in the UQ academic calendar.

Consider looking at the SECaT Reading Tips (PDF, 116.2 KB) before opening and interpreting your course teaching feedback reports.

To protect confidentiality, evaluation reports will only be distributed when a single survey meets the reportable data threshold (5 or more (≥5) responses). Where there are fewer than 5 responses, no numerical analysis and/or comments will be disclosed in evaluation reports.

Quantitative results of all course evaluations from 2015 to the current semester are also available for staff and students to view. 

Various SECaT and SETutor results are also accessible via UQ Reportal. If you require access to UQ Reportal, submit a request using the online form.

Links to the various SECaT reports that are available to download from UQ Reportal are provided on the course and teaching reports webpage.

The process for redacting or removing student comments is outlined in Paragraph 37 to 38 of the Procedure. 

The University will ensure that all data is collected and managed in accordance with University policies and relevant privacy laws, including the Information Privacy Act 2009 (QLD).

UQ is not to provide information that will identify a student who responds to the SECaT or SETutor survey unless required elsewhere in the Procedure or by law.

Students are requested not to self-identify and student identities remain confidential and are not released to teaching staff. However, if the student does self-identify, teaching staff are not to contact individual students about their responses to SECaT and/or SETutor surveys.

The identity of students remains confidential within SSET. Student identities are not disclosed to individual staff.

Refer to the Procedure for more details.

For any enquiries regarding course teaching feedback surveys, please contact the UQ Student Surveys and Evaluations Team (SSET): evaluations@uq.edu.au