EDUCATING THE MASSES: UNDERSTANDING THE NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS IN LARGE OR ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS TO INFORM EFFECTIVE TEACHING PRACTICES

An in-depth investigation into students' approaches to learning at a UK University revealed the importance of addressing the needs and expectations of individual student cohorts. However, this can be problematic for lecturers teaching large or online courses where opportunities for interacting with their students can be limited [1].To address this problem, qualitative data gathered from lecturers and students across the University were analysed and used to develop a surveying instrument for lecturers and course leaders to employ at the start of students' courses or modules. The resultant instrument enables lecturers to accurately uncover the areas where guidance is most needed. Further, this process can be used across any disciplines without prior knowledge of students' educational experiences or expectations. The instrument has been successfully piloted across all faculties at the University, with demonstrated benefits for the lecturers and student cohorts who participated. This paper uses anonymised data from the pilot study, including survey results and interviews with participants, to illustrate these benefits. Additionally, the potential advantages of using the resultant data at an institutional level is discussed.