Hello, Craig - if there is a better way (and I have been thinking about this question a fair bit), then I think it will have to reach beyond the survey mode. Most students are surveyed-out (can't blame them) and I think we must start looking along the lines of focus groups and quality circles. I think we need to treat student feedback with the same intensity we treat primary research data, and act accordingly. We also need to set up feedback loops that enable the participating students to see/witness the effect of their involvement - too many students (from all universities) are unhappy that their feedback/evaluation goes nowhere. If we want student participation, we also have to connect this to responsibility and accountability.

I also think that up until now, student feedback has been seen very much in the light of a useful 'add on' to courses at the end of each semester, as this provides data that universities can put neatly into reports that can then be waved at other universities in The Good University Guide. If universities are truly planning to get serious about student feedback (rather than merely paying lip service to the notion of getting serious), then we also need to solicit evaluation of every part and element of the student experience, not simply the course-delivery side of things.

The student experience is holistic and inclusive and, if we are to do any kind of decent evaluation and then really attempt to improve a university's delivery across the board, then we need to have feedback across the board.

IMO.

Cheers.

Here is a case study.  I hope it's useful to your work.

"This study attempts to examine the relationship between service quality dimensions and overall service quality (tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy) and students satisfaction. Furthermore, this study is also examine critical factors in service quality dimensions (tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy) that contributes most to the satisfaction of the students. This study was conducted using a set of questionnaire to 200 Bachelor Degree students from two private higher education institutions. The study will provide results from empirical test of these relationships."

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ibr/article/viewFile/982/952

These are the best ways to know student satisfaction in higher Educations..

Feedback of Every lecture and also get suggestion by student that how much they gained and survey papers  and design questions for this purpose and through these survey papers create statically graphs and also survey papers for teachers what kind of issues they face in teaching and also Professional skills of teaching.( is a key tool of Teaching.....................................)

Hello, Craig - if there is a better way (and I have been thinking about this question a fair bit), then I think it will have to reach beyond the survey mode. Most students are surveyed-out (can't blame them) and I think we must start looking along the lines of focus groups and quality circles. I think we need to treat student feedback with the same intensity we treat primary research data, and act accordingly. We also need to set up feedback loops that enable the participating students to see/witness the effect of their involvement - too many students (from all universities) are unhappy that their feedback/evaluation goes nowhere. If we want student participation, we also have to connect this to responsibility and accountability.

I also think that up until now, student feedback has been seen very much in the light of a useful 'add on' to courses at the end of each semester, as this provides data that universities can put neatly into reports that can then be waved at other universities in The Good University Guide. If universities are truly planning to get serious about student feedback (rather than merely paying lip service to the notion of getting serious), then we also need to solicit evaluation of every part and element of the student experience, not simply the course-delivery side of things.

The student experience is holistic and inclusive and, if we are to do any kind of decent evaluation and then really attempt to improve a university's delivery across the board, then we need to have feedback across the board.

IMO.

Cheers.

At our university, every class a student takes has a survey that must be filled out during the semester (usually after halfway through the class). They use Likert scales to report their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with aspects of the course (amount of work, timeliness of grade uploads, etc.).

I ask my class all the time for input. If they are involved in shaping the class, to even a minor extent, they better understand why they received the grade they got and have a more positive outlook on the class as a whole. 

I believe the problem is the contrast between two different philosophies on the part of the professor and the student. The professor looks at this as a service the student pays for and should work to learn as much as possible for their money. The student, on the other hand, looks at this as a business transaction where the responsibility for learning is placed on the professor and that the professor should be doing all the work, i.e. the student thinks they are paying for a grade. 

Until this philosophy mismatch is mended, satisfaction rates will remain lower or continue to decline. Just my own opinion.

Hello Craig.

Thank you so much for your question. I had the same type of doubts in my research and the answers which were given for you, help me very much.

Best regards from Canary Island (Spain).

I think we are looking for quality and improvement but not only student satisfaction. This is really a complex matter, student related matters, teacher related matters and class related facilities. Therefore, if we use quality measures as number of students per class, continuous evaluation and interactive, feedback survey every month, modern vision expressions (illustrative slides, etc.). However, continuous student feed back by questionnaires or survey is an important matter to improve the quality and output of teaching. 

Craig

Try these:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256793960_Understanding_student_satisfaction_and_dissatisfaction_An_interpretive_study_in_the_UK_Higher_Education_Context

AND

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235263547_Using_critical_incident_technique_%28CIT%29_to_capture_the_voice_of_the_student

AND

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242349882_The_development_of_a_conceptual_model_of_student_satisfaction_with_their_experience_in_higher_education

Article Understanding student satisfaction and dissatisfaction: An i...

Article Using critical incident technique (CIT) to capture the voice...

Article The development of a conceptual model of student satisfactio...

Another option is to use net promoter score (NPS) to determine loyalty, rather than satisfaction directly. although being criticized for not fitting some scientific standards, this method is heavily used because of its simplicity and effectiveness by companies frequently. besides, results that you will obtain will be comparable with various European universities in different countries. since the method includes a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods, you will be readily seeing the strong and weak points of the university from the students' perspective. attached is a study I have conducted for my university about a year ago. you may find detailed information about in the paper provided in the link

http://www.ijonte.org/FileUpload/ks63207/File/16.ozturk.pdf

Hello, Craig!

To mesure students' satisfaction demands an instrument - you have here several good ideas.

My work about metacognition led me to metaffection, which relates students' understanding/learning with student motivation. I found out that it is not exactly "mesuring" that helps the teacher, but, in fact, it is teacher observation and true dialogue with the students that changes the classroom environement. The dialogue may start on-line, because there are many faces at stake. And then, teacher comments the problems exposed with the group, withou mentioning names, showing her/his own difficulties as a college student - we all had a hard time on something, right? It's fascinating observing the reactions: students really talk about what is happening while they learn and many old conflicts come up, are discussed and tend to be solved as time goes by, once teacher's expertise guides the group. I used several authors to get to this path, such as the works of: Flower and Hayes'/ Pontecorvo's/ Chacón's/ Halasek's researches; I also used Vygotsky's and Bakhtin's as my background.

Ah, another thing: the problems with sdudents' non-satisfaction is related to teachers' old practices and modern students' likes. I tried this: working at college with projects, in which the students would do what I wanted (academic reading and writing) by researching on what subject they would like. Their satifaction with the practices was high. All this is experience is collected in a book, published in Portuguese. I'm finishing writing about it in English to get published. By the way, do you have any idea where I coul publish it?

Thanks a lot!

Eveline

PhD Applied Linguistics - UNITAU

Student satisfaction can be measured through 

a) Learning as reflected in their change in behaviour

b) Enthusiasm to take another course from the same teacher

c) Emotional connect with the teacher 

d) Referral to other customers(students) 

Hello Craig:

At first I wouldn't mesure such an ambiguous signifier as student satisfaction can be. Anyway, I think that you could combine different methodological approaches as a combination between the use of focus groups, questionnaries and interviews. My point is that it is crucial to trace back the various and complex possible meanings that students elaborate about the idea of satisfaction.

We use a 'flipped' classroom method to allow students to do key readings and activities outside of the classroom hours so that the hours that we are together are used to focus on significant and relevant discourse based around the key focus of that workshop. This has resulted in more engagement and students noting that the learning becomes more significant and personalised when they actually have time to reflect upon the readings.

Reflective practices for sure.  It is valuable not just for us as teachers, but the students too.  They provide great feedback about your teaching and their learning.  I have mine do a report at the end of the semester, usually over a project (teaching/coaching demonstrations).  Hope that helps some.

What comes from my mind is something lie the one was used in the very old master piece movie called " 12 Angry men", you can go for a vote without their name or identity  mentioned to rate the quality of the teaching based on their satisfaction level, say  1) Depth of content coverage 2) Quality of materials referred 3) Professor -student interaction friendliness 4) Student CGPA score as well 5) What is their project relevance to this course, etc...

What comes from my mind is something like the one was used in the very old master piece movie called " 12 Angry men", you can go for a vote without their name or identity  mentioned to rate the quality of the teaching based on their satisfaction level, say  1) Depth of content coverage 2) Quality of materials referred 3) Professor -student interaction friendliness 4) Student CGPA score as well 5) What is their project relevance to this course, etc...

I would consider the ways in which faculty are engaging students from a pedagogical perspective.  Are we having them endure the same lecture we deployed many semesters ago or are we revisiting course design and finding ways to engage in active learning on a regular basis?  Students are overwhelmingly telling us that they want to be engaged in meaningful ways and are unwilling to pay to endure a "lecture" style that may not engage them in dynamic ways.  Technology certainly plays a role in this as well as room design.  We have experimented with transforming traditional classrooms into active learning laboratories.  It requires off-loading for the professor and some time commitment by both faculty and students, but the results have been very positive. 

I definetely agree with you, Ken. This year, some teachers in University of La Laguna are trying important changes in teaching. We hope great results!

I am not too sure what you mean by wanting to "impact" satisfaction, so I will focus on the measurement part of your question.  My view is that satisfaction is a multi-dimensional concept.  Aspects of satisfaction might include:

1. Course structure: is the student satisfied with the total requirements of the degree?

2. Quality of teaching (which might vary widely for different subjects in the degree course.)

3. Facilities offered by the university (laboratory work, library, computing facilities....

4. Personal satisfaction (e.g. with feelings about academic achievement, prospects of future success, career opportunities...)

5. Lifestyle satisfaction (living conditions while enrolled, opportunities for social relationships, sporting opportunities, ....)

Above all, don't try to reduce 'satisfaction' to a single measure: it's complicated.

Also be aware that satisfaction may be the result of an interaction between university environment and the student's personal psychological characteristics and expectations.  For example, a university course that gives independent and creative students interesting challenges may be highly satisfying to students who value such approaches to learning, and deeply dissatisfying to students who expect to be given "the facts" to reproduce in assignments and examinations. Conversely, an authoritarian lecturer who simply requires reproduction of "the facts" could be very satisfying to a student who has been brought up on that kind of educational diet, but infuriates a student who expects a university course to stimulate, expand and challenge.

I am not sure what your time scale is for carrying out research in this area. I would suggest, if time permits, to carry out an extensive literature review on measures of satisfaction, and select a small number of variables that reflect your main research interests.  Some open-ended pilot studies, by asking a representative sample of students in the institution to write brief statements about the aspects of their subject/course/university that they find particularly satisfying or dissatisfying might help you to identify important themes for choosing or developing a research instrument.

Above all, don't try to reduce a complex issue to a simplistic approach.  Educational evaluation doesn't work that way.

This is a very good and relevant question for higher education today.  My response may seem like an overly simplified answer, but you "impact" student learning in higher education by engaging the students.  How that is done differs from class to class, student group to student group, level of learning, teaching styles, etc.  I set up a schedule of tried and true practices that have worked for me (Reacting to the Past role emersion, use of technology to engage the students during learning, group projects, debates, discussions, etc), place those within a framework that structures student preparation for classes ahead of time (or none of the above tend to work) - such as flipped videos, use of LectureTools with my flipped videos, pre-class exercises/quizzes, discussion forums, etc).  Then, I listen to my students, watch their body language for cues (I know these are very subjective, but they are crucial if you want to catch a lack of engagement early before that impacts your students' learning).  

The second part of your question - measuring student satisfaction - is a very complex one.  You can use some of the subjective observations (above), but those are subject to student moods, health issues, etc. that might mis-inform you about general student satisfaction, and they are hard to quantify. You can post surveys (opinion/likert scales) after new or major pedagogical activities.  You can use attendance.  One of the clearest ways students demonstrate their satisfaction is by not showing up.  If your attendance is dwindling, your students are not satisfied.  Remember the old adage of "look left and right: two of every three students will not be attending by the end of the semester"?  Well, that isn't a slam on the students, it is a slam on the professor.  If a professor loves his/her topic and know it so well, why can't he/she figure out how to make it engaging to others?

Here is another one to consider - what if the students do show up, and then demonstrate their lack of attentiveness in your class by sleeping, using their smart phones, listening to music with their ear-buds, etc.? (You can make notes on this following classes - especially ones that involve efforts of specifically engaging students but the student distractions demonstrate otherwise.)  I love listening to faculty who complain about the lack of professionalism and rudeness of their students who surf the net and do their email on their smart phones during class.  Why do I laugh? because I see these same faculty behaving the same way during faculty/departmental/committee and other meetings.  If people aren't engaged (especially bright people), their minds wander in an effort to seek stimulation.  My answer is that you need to provide the stimulation in levels that keep the students too busy to get distracted by other temptations, but not to the point of overwhelming them so that they turn you off or just drop or stop coming to class.  It is a fine balance, and one that needs constant review and revising.  

So, how to measure student satisfaction? watch/record/evaluate your attendance; conduct periodic likert scale surveys (during the class while there is still time to make change, not at the end of a semester when it is too late for that group!); provide clear learning outcomes at the start of a class, and then check (informally or formally) for comprehension and success on these during or at the end of the class (helps students recognize they are learning); employ engaging pedagogical activities (technology, role emersion, group activities, presentations, debates, discussions) and count these toward the students' grades (then use this information to measure student engagement and learning for the various activities); watch body language and listen to the students.  I'm sure there are more examples out there.  

Good luck!

There needs to be a realisation that some students cannot be 'satisfied'.  I teach across two disciplines, science and law and it is my sad observation that many students have enrolled at university with no real idea about what they want to study and a lack of direction generally.  

They in some cases choses a course on a whim, without consideration of the amount of effort delivered over a considerable time period that this will demand.  This is in large part the fault of education policy such as the crazy idea (in the UK) that 50% of people need a university education.  

It is also the fault of schools, although to be fair they have been regulated and tested to exhaustion.  Schools do not offer correct careers advice, do not stream children into areas in which they have capacity to learn.

It is also the fault of the universities, again to be fair constrained by the bizarre fantasies of the funding system that students will be recruited on mass rather than on quality.  This is terrible betrayal of the dedicated and hardworking students who have to sit in class with time wasters and deadheads chattering about their social lives on cell phones and tablets. There is no wonder many students are not satisfied when others selfishly distract them in class.  It is not surprising that students more interested in playing with gadgets are not 'engaged'. 

We need to return to a system whereby students are allocated places on merit and ability rather than the damn fool idea of 'education as a right'.  Many students are accumulating huge debts, wasting three years of their lives and heading to disillusionment and cynicism because of the ideology of a handful of 'pedagogic elites' and opportunist politicians.    

One possible idea that has been mooted is to introduce a 'basic training' approach to higher education via a foundation year or properly directed access course.  This could be used to weed out those who did not show aptitude and attitude to educational discipline.  At the other end of the scale final year bursaries or other financial support could be given to students who had worked hard and produced consistent good results.   Incentivising the dedicated and shedding those who don't want to work would increase engagement and results

No amount of crackpot theories about engagement will make students 'engage' where they do not have the intellectual ability, or in many cases the inclination to.  

I think the key change to look for is the expectation of those students arriving at university with no real understanding of why they are there. I'd also be asking if it is the responsibility of universities to "satisfy" anyone who turns up.

In my context curriculum design, instruction, and relevance to the student's position in the labor industry  impact  student's satisfaction in higher education. The mobility from classroom to labor market should be taken into account.

Hello

Please find in my profile some papers. Indicative articles are the below:

Pellas, N. (2014). What makes adult students to participate in online collaborative settings through Second Life? Students’ views and perspectives based on adults’ participation theories.  International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence, 5(1), 23-47.

Pellas, N. & Kazanidis, I. (2014). Online and hybrid university-level courses with the utilization of Second Life: Investigating the factors that predict student choice in Second Life supported online and hybrid university-level courses. Computers in Human Behavior, 40(2), 31-43.

Kind regards

NP

I have observed several things which make distinct improvement in students perceptions of their experiences in class.  Money market manager Peter Lynch said that one should never invest in something you cannot draw with a crayon.   I will follow that model in writing, in the interest of clarity.

1.  Announcing that "This class is an experiment.  I am looking for feedback about what works and what doesn't."  Making good on that expectation tends to help students feel valued, listened to, and more willing to buy into class.  It is more nearly their class.

2.  A member of our teaching team (he is a psychologist, I am a physicist) saw his course evaluations jump significantly as a result of his taking a theatrical voice class.

3.  Trusting students by disclosing the real purposes and outcomes behind what we do.  This sets much more appropriate expectations for them, and better hope for learning something which now has meaning.  This is more challenging than it sounds.  We are pretty good at not clearly knowing them ourselves sometimes.

(I had a calculus professor who, when asked what a particular integral was good for replied, "It's BEAUTIFUL, isn't it!"  He genuinely meant that, but it wasn't helpful.)  It is important to give as much meaning to what we do as possible.  (See Change Blindness on Youtube, and ponder the implications for teaching.)

4. Be as kind, open, honest, and direct as I can.

A feedback form can be used for measuring student satisfaction. This is done by many educational institutes. However, such feedback forms give equal weightages to the criteria like pedagogy or interest the faculty is able to generate among students. If weights are given to this model it can become more accurate in measuring student satisfaction.

Dear RG Colleagues:

Wishing you and your family all the best, more power and success, and be blessed with love, peace, joy, good health, and prosperity, and with what your heart desires. Happy new year!

Thank you for your up votes, endorsement, and following my posts.

Sincerely,

Florencia T. Maldia RN.,PhD

Interesting question & nice contributions. I am following.