Student Evaluation of Teaching and Course (SET-C)
About the Survey
As an outcome from the recommendations that emerged from the Report from the Working Party to Review Instruments Used to Assess the Student Experience (2007), a single, combined instrument to gather feedback from students about their experiences will be introduced at UQ from 2010.
The Scales and Items
The Student Evaluation of Teaching and Course (SET-C) is a questionnaire that combines evaluation of both aspects of the student experience in one instrument. It consists of three constituent parts:
- Seven items on a five-point Likert scale, rated “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree,” gathering student feedback on the course experience
A single item with a five-point Likert scale for an overall rating of the course
- Seven items on a five-point Likert scale, rated “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree,” gathering student feedback on the quality of teaching
A single item with a five-point Likert scale for an overall rating of the teacher
- Two open-ended questions eliciting feedback on positive and improvement aspects of the course
Two open-ended questions eliciting feedback on positive and improvement aspects of the teaching
There are two variants of the SET-C; one where teaching (excluding tutoring) is undertaken by single individual and another where teaching (excluding tutoring) is undertaken by more than one individual.
Examples of each single teacher (PDF; 63KB) and multiple teacher (PDF; 53KB) instrument are available.
Administration of SET-C
As each instance of a course is to be evaluated, there is no requirement for the SET-C questionnaires to be ordered. Certain information is available through sources such as the Electronic Course Profile system that enables their preparation in advance of their use. During the semester this information will be verified with a designated School representative. Additional information, such as the date and time of the evaluation, the complement of teaching staff involved, etc. can be provided by the School and captured at this point. Once this information has been collected, ESU will prepare the questionnaires, provide an instruction sheet for administering the questionnaires, a master copy of the questionnaires for reproduction and a reply-paid envelope for return of the completed questionnaires.
Detailed instructions are available on the preparation and administration of the questionnaires (PDF; 56KB).
The SET-C Reports
Reports are generated at the questionnaire item level and present mean score, the number of respondents N, and the standard deviation. Two further metrics are included; Percentage Agreement and Rating Interpretation Guides (RIGs).
Further information on the Percentage Agreement and RIGs metrics is available here.
Each teacher that has been included in the SET-C questionnaire receives an individual report on the teaching quality items.
Click here (PDF; 49KB) to view a sample individual report.
The Course Coordinator receives a report on the course experience items.
Click here (PDF; 48KB)to view a sample report.
Percentage agreement data will also be reported as follows.
- The Head of School will receive aggregated percentage agreement results for each course on the Teaching Quality items only. That is, if more than one teacher was evaluated the Head of School would receive the combined results, not individual results.
- The Course Coordinator, Chair of the School Teaching and Learning Committee, and the general public (via the Reportal) will receive percentage agreement results for each course on the Course Quality items only.
Open-ended comments
The reverse side of every SET-C gives students the opportunity to write open-ended comments in response to the following questions:
- What are this staff member’s strengths in teaching?
- What improvements would you suggest?
The comments are not analysed by TEDI but are returned, in their raw form, to the lecturer or tutor who was evaluated to assist in identifying strengths and potential improvements.
Sample Size
In order that the data collected has a certain measure of validity and reliability, absolute and minimum lower limits apply to sample size.
If your class has less than 6 students you will not be able to use the standard Student Evaluation instruments such as SETC. If you still wish to gather formative feedback, you might consider using the Open Response Questionnaire (PDF; 73KB) instead.
If the number of completed questionnaires is less than 6 the numerical analysis is not undertaken. Completed questionnaires are however returned after student results are posted so that open-ended comments can be viewed.
