Papers for TEM'2003 are accepted on the basis of an abstract. The abstract is what appears below. The presentation used at the conference is also available.
Due to time constraints a full paper wasn't written. Around the same time, however, another paper was written about the barometers. It has a different focus, i.e. more teaching and learning than quality assurance, but covers some of the same ground. That paper is available
Australian Universities continue to face an increased emphasis on the achievement of Quality Assurance or Quality Management outcomes. The Australian University Quality Agency (AUQA) have stated that they audit Universities against self-articulated goals and outcomes. However, there have been a number of publications that provide hints about some of the possible requirements and practices that may be expected from Universities.
One of the common recommendations has been the suggestion that Universities need to supplement traditional lag indicators of student experience with appropriate lead indicators. This paper will describe the rationale, design, implementation and experience gained at Central Queensland University (CQU) of course barometers. A course barometer is a web-based application designed to provide students a simple, anonymous method for providing informal feedback about their feelings toward a course while it is being taught.
Since 1999 course barometers have been used by over 1200 students in 270 course offerings at CQU’s 14 campuses and by distance education. In particular the paper will examine the issues, and our solutions, faced in implementing the course barometers including: the potential for defamation and related legal problems, the challenge they post to academic independence and the workload implications of knowing problems are happening.