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We Listen

PASS logoStudent feedback received

The PASS program greatly values student feedback. Where possible and appropriate we seek to respond to students? suggestions in the hope of further enhancing students? experiences in our program.

Of the students who responded to the survey in Semester 2, 2008,

  • 98% enjoyed attending PASS
  • 99% felt like they learnt during PASS
  • 91% were satisfied with the quality of the PASS program
  • 90% would recommend the program to others
  • 87% reported that they were actively engaged as a learner in PASS

Postgraduate student comments

  • I liked the PASS study atmosphere-people could sit together in groups discussing the questions they didn't understand and we learnt from each other.
  • I liked the opportunity to go over practice questions.
  • PASS motivated us to think for ourselves.
  • Everyone contributes their own ideas in PASS and then people can see problems from different perspectives which we might not have thought of before. I gained knowledge from other students and learnt from the experience of the facilitator.
  • "Peer learning" is quite useful for the course and gives us the opportunity to know new friends-PASS was very interesting.

Undergraduate Student Comments

  • I liked the people in PASS-some of whom were so helpful, others, a pleasure to talk to and most, a motivating force to learning.
  • PASS provided us an opportunity to ask any questions that we didn't understand from lectures. We were able to go through questions for practice.
  • The community feel was integral to making PASS a successful and participative learning program for me.
  • My PASS facilitator was really enthusiastic and really helped us understand the concepts.
  • PASS was a relaxed but still simulating learning environment
  • The extra practice in PASS was really helpful when it came to exam time.
  • PASS was a lot of fun and great revision for what had been learnt in the week before; the PASS facilitators were a lot of fun too and made the subjects more interesting; overall it was really enjoyable, and you make a lot of friends as well.

Responding to Student feedback

In addition to high levels of satisfaction students have of course also made some suggestions for change. Ideas that we could respond to included:

  • More PASS sessions in more units of study, provision of more sessions each day, provision of longer sessions and not clustering the sessions around lunch
  • More challenging material
  • Provision of PASS material in advance
  • Better time management of the session
  • Provide more answers / sheets / summaries
  • Better rooms, closer to Economics and Business main buildings

How have we responded?

More PASS sessions

  • We have continued to expand the number of units we offer in PASS from 3 in the 2005 pilot to 14 in 2009.
  • Where room availability and team numbers allowed, we increased the numbers of sessions offered.
  • We did pilot two-hour PASS sessions in 2006 in response to many requests for longer sessions but interestingly, the students who then took that option preferred one hour sessions as it was difficult to find two extra hours each week for PASS?so we reverted to offering one-hour PASS sessions.
  • We now offer more PASS sessions at 5pm to cater for part time students who only come to campus on evenings.
  • We aim to cluster the PASS sessions around the beginning and end of lectures, but we will continue to ensure that some sessions are available in the mornings and afternoons.

More challenging material
Note: The PASS model is built upon the premise that students will bring their own questions to sessions. Therefore the responsibility to have more challenging PASS content also relies on students themselves. However:

  • Where possible, we work with the academic staff to identify more challenging PASS questions that can be used in the PASS sessions.
  • We also work together as a team to develop and peer review more challenging questions.

Provision of PASS material in advance

  • Some students wanted PASS material in advance. The PASS facilitators now work together to ensure higher levels of availability of PASS material online via Blackboard, although it was not always possible to post this material before each session.

Note: As outlined above, the PASS model is built upon the premise that students will bring in their own questions. The rationale here is to ensure that PASS is student-centred and focussed on students? needs. Therefore, providing PASS material beforehand is not always possible or even appropriate for all PASS sessions.

Better time management of the session

  • In 2009, the PASS team of facilitators will work together to better structure each session. The 2009 training of new PASS facilitators will emphasise the importance of having a clear agenda for each session.

Provide more answers/sheets/summaries

  • The provision of answer sheets contravenes the PASS model. PASS facilitators do not re-teach the lecture content- they are not 'experts' in the same way as academics are. Nor will they simply 'answer questions' for you. Rather, the emphasis in PASS is on peer learning within groups to solve problems. The Facilitator?s role in the sessions is to GUIDE student discussion and develop understanding rather than to merely provide answers. Tutorials and consultation times with staff should be used to find the answers to tutorial questions, assessments and exams.

Better rooms, closer to Economics and Business main buildings

  • We continue to work closely with the Faculty timetabling manager to secure more rooms closer to Economics and Business lectures.

What else has changed?

We have made a range of other changes that we hope ensures that you enjoy a high quality experience in our program including:

  • Working consistently on the PASS blackboard pages to improve their quality for you.
  • Expanding the information available for students about PASS on the web.
  • Working 'behind the scenes' to improve the registration process.
  • Checking attendance more regularly to identify spaces so that students on the 'waiting lists' may be moved into the program more quickly.

What can you do?

We welcome feedback about the program. Please visit the following webpage if you would like to make additional suggestions.