Designing Student Feedback System within the Course Evaluation Process: Dokuz Eylül University Case Study

• Main Authors: Muhammet DAMAR, Aysun KAPUCUGİL İKİZ, Güzin ÖZDAĞOĞLU, Cenk ÖZLER, Yasemin ARBAK, Pınar TUNCEL, İlgi KARAPINAR, Recep YAPAREL
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bülent Ecevit University 2017-04-01
• Series: Yükseköğretim ve Bilim Dergisi
• Subjects: Student feedback; Course evaluation; Learning outcomes; Quality assurance; Bologna process
• Online Access: http://higheredu-sci.beun.edu.tr/pdf.php3?id=1739
• ISSN: 2146-5959; 2146-5967

The Bologna Process at National Higher Education Programs initiated a series of studies regarding the assessment and evaluation of quality in higher education. Dokuz Eylül University has taken this initiation into a primary concern to develop a methodology for the measurement of quality in undergraduate education. Besides the existing systems on this subject at Dokuz Eylül University, substantial progress was recently made by developing innovative sub-systems aiming further improvements. As one of the most important stakeholders, the feedback from students about the quality of the courses was selected as the major concern and a Student Course Feedback System was developed for this purpose. As an exemplary case study, this reveals how the Student Course Feedback System was designed, the process, the technologies used, the problems and constraints encountered, and the roadmap that can be followed by other universities. Dokuz Eylül University has interiorized this process as a corporate culture by directing instructors to make improvements in the courses with respect to the outputs of the evaluation forms, including questions about learning outcomes, instructors, and physical conditions. The integrated design of the Student Course Feedback System with the existing information systems has enabled management to implement a course evaluation system comprising the trilogy of students, instructors, and courses as a whole. The existence of such an assessment process supports the principles of continuous improvement and helps to establish the factual decision making process as an important milestone on the roadmap for a living quality assurance system.