Folkwang

Quality in teaching

The diversity of the departments and degree programmes, and the associated distinctive features of the various artistic and academic disciplines taught and researched at the Folkwang University of the Arts, are also reflected in the highly individualised tools and methods used in quality assurance. Through dialogue with teaching staff and students, questionnaires have been developed and tested, for example, for orchestral projects, for seminars and lectures in musicology and music education/teacher training, and for modules, seminars, lectures and practical projects in the performing and creative arts. This needs-based quality assurance work for teaching, tailored to the individual learning interests of those involved, is being continuously refined.

‘Student feedback in teaching’ - interim and final feedback

Lecturers and students can request a Teaching Analysis Poll (TAP) from the Quality Development unit. The TAP is used as a qualitative feedback method in teaching and usually takes place halfway through the course in question. Any changes made as a result will therefore directly benefit the students providing feedback in the second half of the course.

As a lecturer, a TAP provides you with qualitative feedback on your course; as a student, it gives you the opportunity to provide constructive feedback on your course anonymously.

 

The method is also suitable for one-to-one tuition – please do get in touch!

 

In the downloads section, you will find further information on the TAP (FAQ) and a registration form. Each semester, the Quality Development Unit sends an email to lecturers and students inviting them to register for a TAP. We would be happy to put you in touch with lecturers or students who have experience with the TAP – should you wish to hear about their experiences first-hand.

 

Phases of the TAP:

 

 

 

TAP registration form

 

FAQ about the TAP

 

Qualitative surveys

The Quality Development department carries out qualitative studies of specific teaching projects on behalf of the Rector’s Office. For example, Marina Abramović’s interdisciplinary Pina Bausch Professorship was supported by an empirical ‘interview project’. In doing so, the unit assumed that biographical narrative interviews offer the opportunity to better understand students’ personal and artistic-professional development and to establish a connection with their experiences during their studies. The specific focus of the study in this project was the collaboration between Folkwang students and the first Pina Bausch Professor, the world-renowned interdisciplinary performance artist Marina Abramović.

 

The report on the findings of this qualitative project will soon be available here.

Questionnaire-based surveys

The Quality Development Department is constantly driving forward the development of target-group-specific and tailored questionnaires on teaching quality across all departments at the Folkwang University of the Arts. In addition to existing questionnaires for orchestral projects, practical movement classes, musicology teaching, etc., a questionnaire is currently being developed for work in the studios of the creative degree programmes. In doing so, systematic attention is paid to ensuring that the content aligns with the university’s specific guidelines set out in its Teaching Mission Statement and its strategic quality objectives; where possible, existing expertise from other art and music colleges is drawn upon to avoid the need for time-consuming new developments. Conversely, questionnaires from the Folkwang University of the Arts are shared with other art and music colleges to incorporate as comprehensive an understanding of quality as possible into teaching at these institutions. The ability to use the professional evaluation software ‘EvaSys’ supports quality assurance work in the area of questionnaire-based surveys.

 

Please feel free to contact the Quality Development department if you would like to receive questionnaire-based feedback on your teaching.

 

In collaboration with universities in the NRW Evaluation Working Group, the Quality Development Unit has conducted an in-depth analysis of problematic free-text comments in teaching evaluations and played a key role in drafting a position paper on the subject.

 

The paper will soon be available here.

Feedback elevations


In studies and teaching

 

Feedback surveys allow you to anonymously capture the mood of students or lecturers on current topics in studying and teaching, for example. Based on your needs and questions, we support you in the implementation by developing and using a suitable instrument.

 

At the beginning of 2022, a feedback survey was carried out at degree programme level in the music teaching degree programmes on the initiative of the music education student council. The student council's initiative was supported by the programme directors and the dean of the department. The feedback discussion was conducted in the form of an evaluation course and supplemented by a subsequent online survey.

 

Results report of the feedback survey in the music teaching degree programme

 

In the counselling service


Since winter semester 2019/20, a feedback tool has been available at Folkwang for those seeking advice from the Central Student Advisory Service. The tool follows the basic dialogue-based structure of quality work and offers those seeking advice a quick and simple procedure for providing feedback on the advice they have received. Through the feedback survey, the university gains further information about the counselling process that goes beyond pure counselling statistics (cf. statistical data). The feedback survey is initially a pilot project, the use of which in other counselling centres appears possible and sensible at the present time.

 

If you are interested, please contact the Quality Development Department in confidence at any time. We will be happy to advise and support you.

 

Ergebnisbericht der Feedbackerhebung im Lehramt Musik (German)

Feedback in small groups

In order to further develop their courses, lecturers at the Folkwang University of the Arts would like to receive structured student feedback on their courses and teaching. This presents a methodological challenge when the learning group is so small that a questionnaire-based survey cannot be carried out and a TAP (see ‘Student Feedback in Teaching’), for example in one-to-one tuition, cannot be conducted for organisational reasons. So how can a lecturer obtain feedback from students when the learning group comprises only two to ten people?

 

In this case, alternative feedback methods are appropriate. They are particularly useful when the aim goes beyond simply evaluating the course and the lecturer’s performance to engaging with students in a dialogue about teaching and learning, and recognising them as active participants in shaping learning processes. Depending on the feedback method used, lecturers gain not only an insight into how students are coping with the teaching and learning scenarios created, but also an understanding of which content ‘sticks’ with the students and which methods lead to learning outcomes.


In its guide ‘Feedback in Small Groups’, the Quality Development Department provides a collection of feedback methods for small learning groups, which offer Folkwang lecturers the following benefits:

 

These feedback methods…

  • _facilitate an open and constructive exchange between students and lecturers,
  • _can be used at a time of the user’s choosing,
  • _can focus more closely on course-specific objectives and the needs of lecturers,
  • _allow for follow-up questions and thus provide valuable detailed and background information on the feedback given.

 

Deliberately using a feedback method and taking the time to do so gives your students the opportunity to engage with specific questions and aspects of the course in a structured way, and demonstrates that you value their feedback.