SFU information for Unit Coordinators
The Office of Strategy and Quality have moved the administration of the Student Feedback on Units (SFU) survey online. This strategy brings us into line with practices across the sector and has many benefits including a more flexible way for students to provide feedback and opportunities for Unit Coordinators to track their students' response rates. There will also be improvements in the level of detail Unit Coordinator’s can include in their reports and analysis of students' feedback.
A Response Rate Dashboard has been set up to help you manage your units SFU Surveys.
In order to improve the response rate it is recommended that you remind students to complete their SFUs as soon as possible. The feedback closing date for this session is 10 June.
If you have any questions or feedback about the online SFU survey or about accessing or using the Response Rate Dashboard please email surveys@uws.edu.au or call extension 7007 or 7454.
- How to encourage students to complete the SFU survey
- Accessing the Dashboard
- How to use the Response Rate Dashboard
- How to change the dates
How students access the SFU survey
Emails have been sent from the Survey Team to students containing links to each of their enrolled units. These links will take them directly to a feedback survey for that unit.
You can change the date at which the SFU email is sent to students using the ‘Change the dates’ feature of the Response Rate Dashboard.
The majority of emails for this session have now been distributed, unless the Unit Coordinator has delayed the send date. Once the initial email is sent to the students containing the links and the closing date the dates for the SFU surveying period are set. Therefore the dates for this session cannot be changed. The Survey team are however reviewing processes and taking into account your feedback for next session.
How to encourage students to complete the SFU survey
The pilot SFU survey revealed that if students were reminded by the Unit Coordinator who has access to the response rate, they would complete the survey. Showing students that you are monitoring the response rate and want to receive their feedback has a positive impact on response rates. Along with reminding your students about the SFU, we suggest you try the following to encourage students to complete the survey:- Allocate time in class - As the majority of first year students will have an iPad, we recommend that Unit Coordinators of first year units set aside time in a lecture or tutorial for students to complete the survey online (as you have done previously with the paper based form). Please inform students that they can complete the survey on any smart device, for example their mobile phones or tablets.
- vUWS - You may want to put up a message on your unit’s vUWS site requesting students complete the SFU survey if they have not yet completed it. Remember you have access to the response rate live so you can always include this in your message.
- Distribute flyers - Flyers promoting the SFU survey and how to provide feedback are being sent to your School for you to hand out to your students if you so choose. The flyers can be handed out at the time you administer the Student Feedback on Teaching (SFT) survey (if you are participating in the SFT process). This way students get something to physically take away with them and may prompt them when they get home.
Response Rate Dashboard
As students provide their online feedback about units, Unit Coordinators will be able to monitor response rates live and download results in the Response Rate Dashboard. The system will only allow for one person to be assigned authority over the unit. If there are two Unit Coordinators assigned to one unit a decision needs to be made over who will have access to the Response Rate Dashboard.Details including your login username and password have been sent to all Unit Coordinators by the Office of Strategy and Quality Survey team. If you do not have your login details or have lost the email please contact the survey team at surveys@uws.edu.au for assistance.
Accessing the Dashboard
When first accessing the Response Rate Dashboard using your username and password, you will be given four options:- Exit – will exit you out of the system.
- Response Rate – will allow you to view live response rates of the unit/s you are coordinating.
- Change the Dates – Is used to manage the dates that students will receive emails (you may have used this feature to change the students email dates).
- Change Pwd – used to change your password.
How to use the Response Rate Dashboard
The ‘Response Rate section of the Response Rate Dashboard allows you to view live response rates of the unit/s you are coordinating. The dashboard will show you the results for the current session as well as the results of any past sessions in which you have coordinated units (eg it can show you the response rate from Q3 and Q4).
You are able to filter the results by year, teaching calendar, unit code or unit name. To filter the results by teaching calendar:
- Select ‘teaching calendar’ in the first drop down box
- Leave the second drop down box as ‘equal to’
- Select the teaching calendar that you want from the third drop down box ‘ie TCH-AUTUM’
- Select ‘apply’ from the last drop down box.
Non Response (red) indicates the number of students who have not yet completed the survey
Complete (green) indicates the number of students who have responded
In Progress (yellow) indicates the number of students who are currently or partially completed the survey.
If you want to download this data into excel you can click on the ‘Download Results Here’ button. This will download an excel version of the table shown on screen.
How to change the dates
This feature is used to manage the dates in which SFU survey emails are sent to students. The Unit Coordinator has control over the initial date the survey is open to students, a date (usually around week 10) is pre-set by the Survey Team however you can delay this date to fit in with your teaching. The close date for the survey is pre-set and cannot be altered. This is to ensure that students get the best possible chance to complete the survey prior to starting exams.To change the dates:
- Click on the ‘’Change the Dates’ button
- Select the radio button next to SFUOnlineForm in the table and choose ‘detail’ from the menu at the top
- Select the radio button next to the unit you wish to update. The unit details will appear in the fields at the top of the screen
- Manually change the date for the initial email using the format DD/MM/YYY hh:mm
- Select ‘update’ from the menu at the top
You must change the dates prior to the pre-set initial date. Once the initial email date has passed you can no longer change the dates as the survey link would have been sent to the student.
Differences between Student Feedback on Unit (SFU) and Student Feedback on Teaching (SFT) surveys
The SFU survey is an online survey which gives students a chance to provide feedback on unit content, and design, learning guides, teaching methods, assessment process and teaching materials. A link to the survey is emailed to the student directly.
The Student Feedback on Teaching (SFT) survey is an optional paper based survey which gives students a chance to evaluate the teaching of their tutor or lecturer. If a teacher wants to participate in the SFT surverys, they are required to complete an order for the surveys. To order SFT surveys to be delivered to you for distribution, please use the online ordering system. The paper surveys are then returned to the survey office for processing. Only the teacher requesting the feedback will be sent the confidential report and each teacher must order the forms for themselves due to the confidential nature of the survey.
The Survey team are looking at reviewing the SFT survey and moving it online in 2014.
