Module evaluations
Module evaluation is the process by which you provide anonymous, critical and constructive feedback on the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of your module. This page explains how you can make best use of your module evaluations.
What is module evaluation and what is it used for?
All students at Leeds will be given the opportunity to offer feedback on the modules they have taken. The way you provide feedback may differ depending on your School.
Feedback is a fundamental part of the learning process – it is important for both students and the staff members that teach them. It helps us to make improvements, to understand the student experience, and to see what is already working well.
Your feedback will be used by your module leaders, and sometimes also your seminar tutor or programme leader, to reflect on the delivery of the module and to make improvements.
Aggregate feedback from students across your school may be used to help your School, Faculty and the University to make improvements.
What is module evaluation not for?
It is not for raising official complaints or grievances with individuals or the University. For more information on complaints you can refer to the student complaints page of the University Secretatiat.
Closing the feedback loop
Staff can respond to module evaluation surveys on a module-by-module basis, and so you may receive a report from your module leader or another member of staff outlining how they are reflecting on your feedback. If you have any questions about this, please email: TheLeedsPartnership@leeds.ac.uk.
Who sees your module evaluation feedback
Module evaluation responses are shared with your module leader and may also be seen by your programme leader, seminar tutors, or other relevant members of staff. Your responses will be presented anonymously and you will not be associated with your comments.
Broad statistical results and text-analysis from multiple modules may be shared more widely.
The data from module evaluation surveys is collected, collated and processed centrally on a confidential basis and the identity of individual respondents will not be shared outside of the central processing teams. In very rare cases, if a student comment raises serious concerns about an individual’s safety or wellbeing, the University may seek to follow up the comment.
How to complete evaluations - effective and constructive feedback
Your feedback should be honest and clear to have the desired effect of helping to improve teaching. The Leeds Partnership, an agreement between all staff and students at the university, calls for students and staff to be responsible, accessible and respectful, and to help each other to reflect, develop and improve. We ask that in your module evaluations you respect this, and follow the Leeds policy of dignity and mutual respect.
When completing module evaluations, please remember the following guidance on offering effective and constructive answers:
Be respectful: Feedback should never be derogatory, or be based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age or other protected or personal characteristics.
Be depersonalised: Feedback is about your learning, not about your teachers personally. Module evaluations should not be used to criticise individual staff members, but to talk about what learning feels like and looks like to you. Avoid personal and emotional comments – this keeps the conversation focused on learning and makes it easier for the university to pursue enhancement. Here are some examples of depersonalised feedback:
| Instead of... | This would be more effective... |
|---|---|
| "I didn’t like [name]’s lectures” This statement criticises an individual, and offers no detail at all about what could be improved. |
“At times I found the way we moved between topics in lectures to be confusing – I would find it easier if more signposting was used." |
Be balanced: It is important to comment on both positives and negatives – this helps us to make changes, but also to see what works in practice.
Be accurate and specific: Feedback should be evidence-led and specific, not based on sweeping generalisations or emotional reactions. See the examples below:
| Instead of... | This would be more effective... |
|---|---|
|
“We were really able to listen in class.” This leaves the reader wondering what the instructor did to allow this. |
“The slides were shared in advance of each lecture, and this made it easier for me to follow what was being said in class” |
| Instead of... | This would be more effective... |
|---|---|
|
"The tests were unfair.” This leaves the reader unclear about what you found to be unfair. |
“I found the questions on my tests fair, but the amount of time we had to finish the test was too short and I thought this was unfair. Even though I knew the material, I struggled to finish in time and felt very stressed.” |
Be constructive: Feedback is most effective when it offers alternative solutions or suggestions. By helping to develop solutions, students can be real partners with staff in enhancing learning.
| Example |
|---|
| “It would be helpful to have an additional workshop before dissertation proposals are due – it would have been good to discuss challenges and ask questions.” |
I have been asked to do a module evaluation on Explorance Blue – how does this work?
The University has recently implemented a new module evaluation system, called Explorance Blue. This will be used in most Schools.
When one of your module evaluations goes live, you will receive an email from Explorance Blue inviting you to log into the system. This link will be unique to you, so please do not share it.
If your link is not working, or you have lost the email with the link, go to Explorance Blue and sign in using your username.
After inputting your username and password you will be prompted to authenticate using Duo two-factor authentication.
How do I complete an evaluation on Explorance Blue?
Navigate to your homepage and the list of modules you have been asked to evaluate will appear under ‘Tasks’. When you have evaluations to complete, they will appear in a list like in the following image.
You can review and change your survey responses after you have submitted them, as long as you do so within the window of time that your module evaluation surveys are open for. Once the window is closed you cannot go back in and change your responses. When you submit a survey, the module will appear in grey so that you can view which surveys you have already completed.
Questions and troubleshooting
If you have any questions, or you are having problems with accessing or using Explorance Blue, please email, TheLeedsPartnership@leeds.ac.uk, and we will be able to advise you.