Course feedback system
On this page you will find instructions for teachers on how to use the course feedback system Norppa.
The role of the teacher as part of a good and supportive feedback culture is important:
- Plan how to collect course feedback before the course starts.
- Tell students about the importance of providing feedback of the course as soon as the course starts. Remind them during the course implementation as well.
- Tell students what kind of feedback your course has received in the past and how it has affected your teaching. This will show students that the feedback they give matters, which in turn will motivate them to give it.
- If you wish, you can use Norppa to collect continuous (free-form) feedback during the course implementation. This doesn’t replace the final course feedback but allows you to make fine adjustments during the implementation.
- Make time for feedback from the last teaching session (remember to open the feedback form earlier).
- Make the most of the system! In Norppa you can
- add your own questions to the feedback survey
- adjust the feedback collection period to your preferences
- track the feedback activity during the feedback collection period
- publish free-form feedback you receive (it will be shown only to students in the course implementation, and you can hide inappropriate feedback individually from the eye icon)
- respond to students’ feedback (counter feedback)
Feedback from the teacher creates a good feedback culture. It shows students that their feedback has been read and is having an impact on teaching. This encourages students to give constructive feedback in the future, too. Respond to students’ feedback as soon as possible after the feedback period ends.
Instructions for using the course feedback system Norppa
- Teacher's quick guide
- User rights
- Feedback form
- Schedules for collecting feedback
- Publicity of the feedback
- Continuous feedback
- Reviewing feedback and counter feedback
Teacher's quick guide
- The feedback survey is automatically generated based on the course implementation data in Sisu. Please note that, unlike before, Norppa does not necessarily create a feedback survey for each course implementation. By default, e.g. exams and written assignments (essays) will not generate a feedback survey in Norppa.
- By default, the feedback survey opens on the last day of the implementation and closes two weeks after the end date of the implementation. As a responsible teacher, you can edit the default settings in the system yourself before the form opens.
- As a responsible teacher, you can add questions to the survey in addition to the common questions of the university.
- As a responsible teacher, you can view given feedback by groups (see the section Adding grouping question for more details).
- Students will automatically receive an email notification when the feedback survey opens.
- As a responsible teacher, you can also collect feedback during the implementation (see the section Continuous feedback for more details).
User rights
Teacher's user rights are automatically generated according to the implementation data of the course in Sisu. As a teacher of the implementation, you can see the results of public questions. As a responsible teacher of the implementation, you can
- add questions to the feedback form of your implementation,
- open and respond to the continuous feedback of your implementation,
- view all feedback on your implementation and provide counter feedback,
- publish your implementation feedback.
Feedback can also be viewed by university staff who are authorised to do so. For example, the administrative person of the implementation has the same rights as the responsible teacher. In addition, each unit has at least one feedback liaison who can, for example, edit the unit-specific settings in Norppa. More information on the tasks of the feedback liaison will be available at a later stage. Additional rights to process course feedback are applied for unit-specifically at id.tuni.fi. For additional rights, approval of the supervisor is required.
Feedback form
The feedback form is automatically generated based on the course implementation data in Sisu. One feedback form per course is opened for the student. In principle, the feedback form will be opened for the implementation of the assessment item "Participation in teaching". No feedback is collected for exams. As the responsible teacher of the implementation, you can edit the form before the feedback period starts.
The form contains six questions common to the university and any questions common to the unit. The common questions cannot be deleted, but you can add your own questions to the form.
Common questions:
- Which aspects of the course went well in terms of your learning?
- How would you develop the course?
- In your opinion, how well did you achieve the learning outcomes of the course? (sufficiently, satisfactorily, well, very well, excellently, cannot answer)
- The work amount of the course in relation to the credits (approx. 27 h/credit) was (too heavy, somewhat too heavy, appropriate, somewhat too light, too light)
- I think that non-discrimination and equality were achieved in the teaching situations (e.g. lectures) of the course. (strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree, cannot answer)
- Give the course an overall assessment. (sufficient, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent, cannot answer)
Adding questions to the feedback form
On My teaching tab, you will find both ongoing and upcoming implementations for which you have been designated as a responsible teacher in Sisu.
Select the implementation for which you want to edit the feedback questionnaire. Once you have opened the questionnaire for the implementation you want to edit, click on "Edit". You can add instructions or your own questions at the bottom of the questionnaire by clicking on "Add question". There is no ready-made question bank in Norppa. However, you can copy questions from another implementation for which you are the responsible teacher.
Types of questions in the form
- Scale of values (sufficient, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent, cannot answer)
- Open question
- Single choice question - choose one
- Multiple-choice question - choose several
- Textual content (this allows you to include, for example, additional information for respondents on the feedback form)
Adding the grouping question to the feedback form
Grouping allows you to see and compare answers of single Sisu groups in the feedback results. Norppa automatically groups students' answers based on their confirmed study sub group. If your course implementation does not have any meaningful study sub groups in Sisu or you want the students to manually choose their group, you may create a multiple choice question and mark it as a grouping question, to have students' answers be grouped based on it. A survey may have only one grouping question and it is always the first question in the form.
Please notice, that should any single group have 1-4 feedbacks, the grouping of results won't be available. This is to protect anonymity of students' answers. If you create your own grouping question, try not to ask too specific things or add options that might get less than 5 answers. The grouping question can be added to the feedback form in Norppa's Edit tab.
Schedules for collecting feedback
By default, the feedback form will open on the last day of the implementation, based on Sisu data, and will close two weeks after the end date of the implementation. You can modify these default settings in Norppa as the responsible teacher. You can make changes to the feedback form and its opening time until the form opens.
As the responsible teacher, you will receive an automatic email notification one week before the feedback form for your implementation is about to be opened for students.
If you want to collect feedback already during the implementation, you can use continuous feedback.
Publicity of the feedback
The feedback given can only be viewed in Norppa. In Norppa, the course feedback's degree of visibility is determined by the publicity settings:
- Public means that the feedback given can be seen by all people who are somehow involved in the course (students enrolled in the implementation, teachers, administrators). In addition, public feedback can be seen in Norppa with additional access rights granted through the university's identity management.
- Non-public means that the feedback given is only visible to the course implementation's responsible teacher, administrator and the unit's feedback liaison (the right is granted through the university's identity management).
The numerical feedback on the University's common questions is public and cannot be changed to non-public. However, as the responsible teacher, you can edit the non-public open questions to public if you wish. Students enrolled in the course will then be able to see the public feedback given.
When you create new questions on the form, as the responsible teacher, choose whether you want them to be public or non-public. Public feedback will be visible to students in the implementation as soon as it is given.
Make the publicity settings before the feedback form opens. At the beginning of the implementation, inform the students participating in the implementation about the level of publicity of the feedback you collect. It is recommended to regularly check the feedback already during the feedback collection process. If you notice, for example, inappropriate feedback or feedback with identifiable information, you can hide individual responses as the responsible teacher. You can hide responses on the Answers tab on the implementation page.
Continuous feedback
As the responsible teacher, you can collect feedback during the implementation process if you wish. This is how you can start using the continuous feedback:
- Select the desired course and implementation on the Teaching tab in Norppa.
- Select "Continuous feedback" from the implementation page.
- Select "Activate continuous feedback for the course implementation".
Continuous feedback is an open text field where you cannot add separate questions or answer options. The option to provide continuous feedback will appear on the student's Norppa home page. However, please note that students will not receive an automatic notification of the opening of the continuous feedback. Please inform students if you collect feedback during the implementation. You can, for example, share a link to the feedback page on the implementation’s Moodle platform.
The continuous feedback given will appear on the implementation page under "Continuous feedback". If you wish, you can also choose to receive a daily email digest about new continuous feedback. The continuous feedback given will only be visible to the teacher responsible for the implementation. You can reply to the continuous feedback. The response will only be visible to the student who provided the feedback.
Reviewing feedback and counter feedback
As the responsible teacher, you can view feedback in real time. However, please note that students can edit and delete their feedback when the feedback form is open. You can download the feedback summary as a csv or pdf file at any stage of the feedback collection process. This can be done on the implementation page under "Answers". Select "Download feedback" from the right side of the page. You will then be able to select the file format of your choice.
As the responsible teacher, you can respond to student feedback directly in Norppa. The counter feedback will be given collectively for all feedback given on the implementation after the feedback form has closed. You can also edit the feedback after it has been submitted. The counter feedback will be visible in Norppa for all those who have registered for the implementation. Students will also receive an automatic email notification immediately after submitting the counter feedback, if this option is selected.
General principles of course feedback
The collection and processing of course feedback is based on the common principles of the University, which are described in more detail in the following appendix:
For support in using the course feedback system Norppa, please contact Teachers' Educational System Support through Education and Learning unit’s study administration’s email address of your faculty:
Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences (ITC), itc.opiskelu.tau [at] tuni.fi
Faculty of Management and Business (MAB), mab.opiskelu.tau [at] tuni.fi.
Faculty of Education and Culture (EDU), edu.opiskelu.tau [at] tuni.fi, kielikeskus.tau [at] tuni.fi
Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology (MET), met.opiskelu.tau [at] tuni.fi, bbt.opiskelu.tau [at] tuni.fi,
Faculty of Built Environment (BEN), ben.opiskelu.tau [at] tuni.fi
Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (ENS), ens.opiskelu.tau [at] tuni.fi
Faculty of Social Sciences (SOC), soc.opiskelu.tau [at] tuni.fi