Frequently Asked Questions

A list of answers to frequently asked questions about the course barometers, how they work and what is done with the information.

1. Why should I use them?

In a normal classroom situation the teacher can see the students. As a result the teacher can draw conclusions about how students are feeling about what they are learning. A good teacher uses this information to adapt how and what they are teaching.

A typical Webfuse course is a very complex affair. It usually has over 200 students spread across 13 different campuses (Rockhampton, Mackay, Bundaberg, Gladstone, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Fiji, Singapore, Hong Kong) and studying via distance education. In this situation it is very difficult for the teacher to see how students are going.

The comments students make on the barometer let the teaching staff know how you are going. If they know what works and what doesn't staff can improve their teaching and in the end improve your experience.

Making barometer contributions will improve your experience.

2. Isn't this just another mechanism for Webfuse to ignore?

No. This is so important to Webfuse that significant resources have been spent making sure it works. This includes making sure that comments from students are followed up and actually used.

The role of barometer booster is responsible for checking all barometer comments and ensuring that the Faculty responds to all problems and uses all the good ideas.

Does this mean that if you post a comment about a problem you are having that the problem will be fixed immediately? Almost certainly no.

Some possible explanations for this

• Some problems cannot be solved during a term.
  For example, it isn't possible to change a text book during term. Assignments can't be changed during terms. It may not be possible to move a class to another room because all the rooms are being used.
• Some problems are caused by perceptions
  My belief that the content in a course is inappropriate doesn't mean that the content is inappropriate. My believe may be wrong. I may misunderstand the aim of the course. Or of course I could be right.

  There are over 5000 students studying Webfuse courses in any given term. Most courses average at least 100 students. One student's perception may not be correct, or at the very least may not meet the perception of Webfuse staff. It is very difficult to fully grasp, understand and appreciate the perceptions of a wide group of people.

  If 20, 30 or more students have the same perception.....

  In situations like this it may be that Webfuse has not communicated well what should be expected.

  In some cases regardless of what Webfuse does the student's perception will remain.

• Solving the problem may cause greater problems
  Any change that is made is likely to have ramifications. Some of the end results of a change may actually cause more problems.

  For example, changing the time and location of a tutorial to suit one person may mean that 5 other people can't make it.

3. Why do we have to enter our student number and password?

There are two main reasons

1. To prevent abuse from non-CQU visitors.
2. To implement a 1 comment per student per course limit.

At no stage is a student number associated with a particular comment. Teaching staff are never aware of which student has made a comment.

Outside Abuse

Most of the Webfuse course websites are not password protected. This means that anyone from anywhere in the world can visit a Webfuse course website. For example, at least 15% of all visitors to the Webfuse website are from the United States.

In the past some of these visitors have abused the ability to make contributions on the Webfuse website by using inappropriate language and practice.

1 comment per student per week per course

In implementing the Webfuse course barometer it was decided to limit the number of contributions each student can make to one comment per week for every course they are enrolled in.

The intent here is to encourage students to be more reflective when making comments on the barometer. It is hoped, but not necessary, that a comment on the barometer is the last thing students do each week. To reflect on what has happened that week.

4. My comment doesn't appear on the barometer

Most web browsers are set up to keep a copy of web pages on the local hard-drive. That way if you return to a web page you've already seen recently the browser doesn't have to download it again.

This speeds up your browsing.

The problem is that if the page changes you won't know about it.

There are two known solutions to this

1. hit the reload/refresh button
   All web browsers have a reload/refresh button. Hitting this makes the browser contact the web server and get a fresh copy of the page on which the changes should be made.
2. change browser options
   How the browser caches (keeps a local copy) a web page is something that can be changed in your browser's options. Somewhere in the options of your browser you should find an option that mentions caching.

5. How are my comments used?

Comments you make on a course barometer are stored in a database. There is no connection between your comment and your student number. They are kept in separate tables.

Apart from appearing on the course barometer your contributions will be visible through various reporting tool. These tools are visible on the website and are used by various staff within the faculty to see how students are going.

Any problems that are reported on barometers will be seen by both the teaching staff within that course and also the barometer booster. The barometer booster's role is to help out teaching staff to track comments and make sure responses are made.

As things progress statistics from the course barometers and any trends which are identified will be used to modify policy and process within the faculty.

6. What is the barometer booster?

The barometer booster is a role that is assigned to someone within the Faculty of Informatics and Communication. The barometer boosters tasks include

• Explaining to staff and students what the barometers are for.
• Encouraging students to make contributions to the barometers.
• Responding to situations where barometer contributions are not acceptable according to the Barometer Guidelines
• Ensuring that the barometer contributions make a difference to the student and staff experience.

The barometer booster idea is a new one which started in Autumn term 2002. The first booster is David Jones.

7. Why were the guidelines created?

A draft set of guidelines for barometer contributions is currently being developed. Why are they being developed?

The barometers are an open, public forum. As such there are some types of comments that should not be made. Defamatory comments, comments that lead someone to have a lower opinion of another person, can cause legal problems for both the person who made the comment and CQU.

Apparently a number of students are not aware of this possibility. The guidelines are being created to make students aware of some of the potential ramifications if they make inappropriate comments on the barometers.

In the 3 years until the start of 2002 in which the course barometers only 1 comment out of 1200+ had to be removed because of objectionable content. In the last 3 weeks at least 4 comments have had to be deleted due to objectionable content.

Some people believe that the barometers are a very useful tool for both staff and students. Continued abuse of the barometers could lead to them no longer being available.

8. Why is my campus showing up next to my comments?

It is common for comments made on the barometer to contain something like this.

The tutor didn't show up for the tute

Since Webfuse courses are taught at 13 different campuses it is very difficult to address this sort of problem without knowing which campus the student is located at.

Too make it easier to address these sorts or problems the barometer was modified so that it would record the campus of (FLEX for distance education students) the student who made the comment.

Webfuse continues the policy of never identifying a student who made a barometer contribution for its own purposes.

9. What's with the

Traditionally the comments made by a student on the barometer showed up as black text. Feedback from staff indicated that it would be useful to know how the student who made a comment was feeling (i.e. good, bad or indifferent).

Initially it was decided to change the colour of the comments based on the feeling. e.g. if the student was feeling:

• good, the comment would be green;
• indifferent, the comment would be black; or
• bad, the comment would be red.

However, feedback from a students and staff indicated that comments coloured green were difficult to read. Instead the feeling is now indicated by a textual description added to the end of each comment.

10. Why doesn't my comment appear on the barometer?

Early in Autumn term 2002 a problem was discovered with the implementation of the course barometers. A student barometer contribution usually consists of three parts:

1. Week: The week they are making the comment for.
2. Feeling: How they are feeling about the course, good, bad or indifferent.
3. Comment: A textual comment entered by the student.

This information is stored in a database table. That database table expects to receive all three bits of information: week , feeling and comment.

A mistake in the HTML for the barometer contribution form meant it was possible for student's to make a comment without indicating how they were feeling.

With the feeling missing the database would not store the contribution. It went missing.

This problem has been fixed. By default, the form assumes that the student is feeling Indifferent.

Barometer comments are never simply removed. i.e. they just don't disappear.

However, if a comment does not meet guidelines for barometer contributions they will be edited to remove the unacceptable content and to have an explanation added.