Exit Interviews with Graduating Students Dharini Balasubramaniam School of Computer Science Learning & Teaching Dissemination

Acknowledgements School of Chemistry School of Computer Science Prof Phil Lightfoot Prof Chris Baddeley School of Computer Science Interviewers and students 16/10/2017

Motivation Beyond MEQs and NSS Feedback on Entire programme Whole student experience Academic and otherwise Part of Athena SWAN action plan 16/10/2017

Target cohort Graduating students BSc Hons (single and joint) MSci MSc 16/10/2017

Scheduling Undergraduate Taught postgraduate Semester 2, week 12 Will do at the same time again Taught postgraduate Final week of dissertation Between dissertation submission and poster session Would like to move this earlier, to ~end of July 16/10/2017

Interviewers UG PGT Role added to duty list DoT, Athena SWAN convener, Honours coordinator PGT DoT, Athena SWAN convener, DoPGT (x2), MSc lecturer (x3) Role added to duty list 16/10/2017

Process Availability agreed with interviewers Schedule with pre-allocated slots (15 mins each) Random allocation A couple of free slots at the end of each session Some gaps built in Email to students with link to schedule and questions to be asked No inducements! Students could request change to a free slot School office maintained master schedule and dealt with requests for changes 16/10/2017

UG questions Do you have any suggestions for improvements of school facilities such as labs and common areas or the general school environment? How useful did you find the different aspects of teaching in the school, such as lectures, small group tutorials, exercise classes and projects? What are your career plans (job in industry, PhD, teaching, etc)? Do you feel your experience of studying Computer Science at St Andrews has prepared you well for these plans? Have you perceived any bias towards you or anyone you know on the basis of gender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or any other factor in the School of Computer Science? If so, did this influence your further career plans, and if it did, how? What was the best part of your time in the school and what aspect needs the most improvement? Do you have any other feedback? 16/10/2017

PGT questions Do you have any suggestions for improvements of school facilities such as labs and common areas or the general school environment? How useful did you find the different aspects of teaching in the school, such as lectures, tutorials, group work and projects? Do you have any suggestions for new forms of delivery? What are your career plans (job in industry, PhD, teaching, etc)? Do you feel your experience of studying in the School of Computer Science at St Andrews has prepared you well for these plans? Have you perceived any bias towards you or anyone you know on the basis of gender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or any other factor in the School of Computer Science? If so, did this influence your further career plans, and if it did, how? What was the best part of your time in the school and what aspect needs the most improvement? Do you have any other feedback? 16/10/2017

Interviews Personal interview with an interviewer Held in interviewer’s office Anonymised notes taken during interviews Tally kept separately for gender & programme 16/10/2017

Student engagement Very good UG: 86% PGT: 73% Most students put a lot of thought into this Fair, honest, constructive & useful feedback 16/10/2017

After interviews Collated responses Report shared with all staff and school president, summarising responses and recommended actions Actions to address issues raised 16/10/2017

Reflections on experience Students appreciate personal element “not another online survey” Pre-allocating slots works Feedback on a range of issues Students are keen to help us Students had had more time to reflect on their experience UG vs PGT Differences in concerns, perceptions & interpretations PGT: academic concerns more about assessment and its fairness than workload, bias concerns more about race & nationality than gender, didn’t dismiss them, concerns and interpretations coloured by previous uni experience, 16/10/2017

On the whole … A very pleasant and useful exercise Students were very positive overall Learned a lot We plan to do it every year Thoroughly recommend it 16/10/2017