WHAT ARE ESSEX STUDENTS FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF TEACHING?

BACKGROUND:

• Between 23rd – 30th October 2023 the SU Education Team conducted our fourth annual pulse survey to establish students’ first impressions of teaching.
• The purpose of the survey was to establish feedback of students’ experiences of teaching and draw comparison to previous years
• The survey followed the same format as our first impressions survey conducted in 2020, 2021 and 2022
• In this survey we heard from 1879 students which included 439 free text comments
• This is our highest ever response to this survey both in terms of clicks and free text comments
• This report summarises the headline results from this survey and the accompanying document includes a breakdown of free text comments by department
• The Education Team will be liaising with academic departments over the coming weeks to discuss the results in more detail

HEADLINE RESULTS:

• We are pleased to report that the percentage of students whose first impressions of teaching is “good” has once again improved in comparison to all previous results. As mentioned, there is also a significant increase in the number of students participating in this survey (see details below).

QUESTION: WHAT ARE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF TEACHING?

• An increase of 10% of students identifying their first impressions of teaching as good is the most significant change in this year’s results
• There is a reduction in the percentage of students answering “not good” to the initial question
• The percentage of students who selected “not good” has returned to the levels we saw in 2021

COMMON THEMES

Students who answered either Good, Okay or Not Good to the question were then invited to complete a short survey about their experiences. A full anonymised breakdown of responses is included on a separate document. Below is a list of the most common themes. 

Comments from Students who responded with “My first impressions of teaching are good” included:

• The teaching staff have all been very engaging
• Delivered in a way that is accessible and interesting, different methods of learning catered to
• The explain the class so well. They are always ready to clarify our doubts and they are so friendly 😊
• Most of my classes are practical and productive
• The teachers are very kind and are experts in their subjects.

Comments from Students who responded with “My first impressions of teaching are okay” included:

• some lectures have been satisfactory while some have been non-satisfactory due to the teaching style.
• I m finding it little difficult to understand the way of teaching and it's difficult to cope up with the speed of teaching
• I like being able to interact with my lecturers so if I have any questions, they can be answered. However in some lectures, difficult concepts are rushed over and I feel pressure to keep up with the class whilst not understanding. Some lectures require too much interaction for people who struggle to speak in front of a whole class.

Comments from Students who responded with “My first impressions of teaching are not good” included:

• The lectures' tone, to say the least, is rather monotonous.
• Course Teachers need to be more interactive with students
• It has been incredibly stressful with the amount of work being thrown onto students. The implementation of exams in person has made also incredibly stressful and my mental health has been impacted

PERSONAL TUTORING AT ESSEX

BACKGROUND:

• Between 22^nd  – 29^th November the Students’ Union conducted a Pulse Survey to ask Essex students whether or not they had met their personal tutor.
• This is the third year we have run a survey linked to this theme
• In response to the question “Have you met your personal tutor yet?”, students were given the following four options:
  • “Yes, I have already met my personal tutor”
  • “Not Yet, but I have a meeting scheduled”
  • “No, I haven’t, and I haven’t been invited either”
  • “No, I have chosen not to meet my personal tutor”
• Following feedback from academic departments we introduced an additional option this year allowing students to select “No, I have chosen not to meet my personal tutor”
• In total, 1729 students provided us with an answer to this question
• These 1729 students were then invited to take part in a follow up questionnaire.
• In total 723 students participated in the follow-up questionnaire, providing us with free text comments that offer valuable context for the lead question, as well as departmental breakdowns.

HEADLINE RESULTS:

QUESTION: HAVE YOU MET YOUR PERSONAL TUTOR YET

COMMON THEMES

The 723 responses to the follow-up questionnaire allow us to understand more about students’ experience of the personal tutor system.  A full, anonymised breakdown of responses is included on a separate document. The Education Team will be sharing responses at a department level. Below is a summary of each of the responses:

Students who answered “Yes”

• Of the 723 free text responses, 404 students told us they had met their personal tutor
• 27% of these students were first year undergraduates
• 10% were second year undergraduates
• 8% were third year undergraduates
• 2% were fourth year undergraduates
• 40% were postgraduate taught students
• 90% of students who answered “yes” said their experience of their personal tutor meeting was positive

A selection of comments from students who said their personal tutor meeting was positive is included below. These comments link to the most common themes that included tutors being helpful, supportive and welcoming:

• He was kind and welcoming. It was a no-judgement zone
• My tutor has a great energy, very welcoming and she has made time to see me every time I have asked
• She was welcoming and gave me much-needed encouragement and assurance that all would be fine

Students who answered “No”

• Of the 723 free text responses 243 students told us they had not met their personal tutor
• 18% of these students were first year undergraduates
• 17% of these students were second year undergraduates
• 16% of these students were third year undergraduates
• 5% of these students were fourth year undergraduates
• 43% of these students were postgraduate taught students
• Of the 243 responses 192 students said that this survey is the “first they had heard” about personal tutoring at Essex

Students who answered “Not yet, but I have a meeting booked in”

• Of the 723 free text responses 45 students told us they hadn’t had a meeting yet but had one booked in
• Of these 70% students had a one to one meeting arranged
• 8% of students had a group meeting arranged
• 22% of students were not sure if they were meeting their tutor individually or part of a group

Students who answered No, I have chosen not to meet with my personal tutor

• Following feedback from academic departments last year, we introduced an additional option for students answering the survey
• Of the 723 free text responses 31 students told us they had chosen “not to” meet their personal tutor

The three most common reasons for this were:

“I don’t require any support”

“Any help I need I get from my lecturer”

“I am not confident about going to them”

We will be continuing to produce several pulse surveys throughout the year. If you have any specific feedback relating to this report, please do let us know.