FY Evaluators Question Pool
The checklist is a question pool for use by outside evaluators or peer reviewers of First Year Curriculum. The questions look at First Year Experience in a Course not just a single unit and therefore some questions may be best answered by a range of different stakeholders -e.g. the Course Coordinator, Unit Coordinator or Tutors.
Note: These questions were originally developed at Queensland University of Technology as a resource for staff teaching first year students.
Categories / Checklist Question / Sources of evidenceTransition Orientation / 1. Is there an annual review process in place to help identify which aspects of the orientation process might be improved? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Orientation / 2. Do you access corporate data to help identify which aspects of Orientation might be improved? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Orientation / 3. Do you provide input into your schools orientation plan? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Orientation / 4. Is an appropriate range of information provided to students before and during their orientation week and into the first four to five weeks of semester? / Examine a recent Orientation Pack
Transition Orientation / 5. What are the key types of information that you provide to students in the first four weeks of semester? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Orientation / 6. Is there a strategy in place to identify students who miss orientation week activities and ensure they receive the necessary orientation information? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Orientation / 7. Do orientation activities continue as part of the first year course curriculum during the first four weeks of semester? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Orientation / 8. Do the Orientation activities provided meet the known needs of commencing cohort, for example, in terms of their diversity characteristics? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Orientation / 9. Are there processes in place to allow you to accommodate the unforseen needs of commencing students, for example, a student with special needs? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Staff / 10. Is your tutorial team cognisant of the needs of the commencing cohort? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Staff / 11. Is there a strategy for letting people in the classroom know what is covered in orientation? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Staff / 12. Is there a strategy for letting people in the classroom know the timetable of orientation activities that will take place during the first four weeks of semester? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Staff / 13. Is there a process in place for identifying Unit Coordinators or Tutors who will be new to teaching First Year? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Staff / 14. Is there a process in place for ensuring that teaching staff new to teaching in first year are connected with appropriate resources and support? / Interview Course Coordinator
Transition Staff / 15. Is there a process in place for ensuring that professional staff are aware of orientation activities, timetable and support appropriate to First Year and that they are connected with appropriate resources and support? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview student services manager
Design / 16. Are there first year course curriculum objectives? / Interview Course Coordinator, See Course Proposal
Design / 17. Have the first year core unit learning objectives, that will provide the platform for development in later years of the discipline, been clearly identified and mapped? / Interview Course Coordinator, See Course Proposal
Design / 18. Have the Graduate Capabilities for this course been identified and mapped across the curriculum to show which capabilities first year students need to develop? / Interview Course Coordinator, See Course Documentation
Design / 19. Are the graduate capabilities developed across the three years of curriculum? / Interview Course Coordinator, See Course Documentation
Design / 20. Have the required knowledge and skills milestones been mapped on to the graduate capabilities? / Interview Course Coordinator, See Course Documentation
Design / 21. Is the skill development required in the first year appropriate to first year and later expectations of the course? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Design / 22. Are First Year Unit Coordinators provided with a map that indicates how the graduate capabilities are developed across the semester and how they provide a foundation for later years? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, See Course Documentation
Design / 23. Are there any First Year units that may be suffering 'slippage' from the original course proposal or graduate capabilities mapping? / Interview Course Coordinator, review changes to unit outlines
Design / 24. Are there strategies are in place to counteract any diminishing of graduate capability development due to unit 'slippage'? / Interview Course Coordinator
Design / 25. Is someone allocated responsibility for ensuring the ongoing quality of the first year curriculum in your faculty / Interview Course Coordinator
Design / 26. In each First Year Unit, are students supported to connect their previous education/life experiences to the activities typical of higher education learning in the first year of this discipline? / Interview Course Coordinator
Design / 27. Are there sufficient opportunities, across all first year units, for students to work collaboratively (in pairs, informal groups, on other activities) in order for them to get to know each other and develop a sense of belonging? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Design / 28. Are there sufficient physical and virtual and spaces to enable students to interact? / Interview Course Coordinator, Audit physical spaces, Audit virtual spaces
Design / 29. Is there time allocated in the timetable to facilitate student and staff social and academic interaction? / Interview Course Coordinator
Design / 30. Does the Course Coordinator take both formal and informal opportunities to speak with the first year cohort (e.g. orientation, visit core lectures, attend student functions, corridor conversations). / Interview Course Coordinator
Design / 31. Does each First Year unit showcase an aspect of professional life in the discipline so that students can begin to identify with their possible career paths? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Design / 32. Have the key attitudes and values about university study and the discipline, that students are expected to gain by the end of First Year, been identified? / Interview Course Coordinator
Design / 33. Are First Year unit coordinators and teaching team aware of the key attitudes and values that students are expected to gain by the end of the first year? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Design / 34. Have the unit activities that will help students develop the attitudes and values that students are expected to gain by the end of their First Year been identified and mapped? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Diversity / 35. Have the diversity characteristics of the first year cohort been identified? / Interview Course Coordinator
Diversity / 36. Have any notable attrition patterns amongst any particular equity/diversity groups been identified? / Interview Course Coordinator
Diversity / 37. Have appropriate support features within the Faculty or University, that could be of help to the course's equity/diversity groups, been identified? / Interview Course Coordinator
Diversity / 38. Have First Year Unit Coordinators and Tutors been made aware of the diversity characteristics of their incoming cohort and the support features within the Faculty and University that may be of help? / Interview Course Coordinators, Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors.
Diversity Mediating and Support / 39. Are proper procedures followed in relation to notifying Unit Coordinators about any special needs students that have been identified by the Equity Office? / Interview Course Coordinator,
Interview Unit Coordinators,
Diversity Mediating and Support / 40. Has the Unit Coordinator disseminated information to the teaching teams about special needs students? / Interview Unit Coordinators,
Diversity Mediating and Support / 41. Does your faculty provide cultural awareness training for academic and professional staff? / Interview Course Coordinator?
Diversity Mediating and Support / 42. Do you have strategies to recognise the disparity between different students' entering knowledge and skills? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators,
Diversity Mediating and Support / 43. Are there clear pathways to support students to acquire the entry level knowledge and skills that they require? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators,
Diversity Curriculum / 44. Have curriculum refinements been made to better reflect the diverse characteristics and needs of students in the incoming cohort? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Diversity Curriculum / 45. Do the teaching and learning activities accommodate the full range of learning styles? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Mediating and supporting / 46. Have the key expectations of university life that need to be made explicit to First Year students in relation to this discipline been identified e.g. attendance at lectures; participation in tutorials; lab safety at university; expected assessment turn-around times; types of feedback on learning; email turn-around times etc. / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Mediating and supporting / 47. What strategies are in place to ensure consistent and clear messages are being given to First Year students in relation to these key expectations of university life? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Engagement / 48. Are sufficient opportunities provided in each unit for students to get know the diverse range of students in your cohort? E.g. students with different ethnic, economic, religious, racial, political and social backgrounds. / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors
Engagement / 49. Are first year teaching teams provided with strategies and support for getting to know students' names? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors
Engagement / 50. Are first year teaching teams provided with strategies for including shy students and students from diverse backgrounds in class activities? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors
Engagement / 51. Are students provided with opportunities and encouraged, in class and online, to discuss unit content, develop opinions and share ideas with their peers and tutors? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 52. Have appropriate opportunities been provided for students to make personal connections between their previous experiences, the unit content and academic skills that are important to each unit? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 53. For any group or team learning experiences, have students been provided with guidelines and support that maximise positive team interactions and productivity? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 54. Are there opportunities for staff -student interaction in curricula and co-curricula activities? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 55. Are students provided with opportunities to receive assistance from their peers? e.g. PASS, peer mentoring, duty tutor programs? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 56. Are students provided with opportunities to apply their learning in the workplace or to undertake employment-focused learning experiences appropriate to first year? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 57. Has attention been paid to the active learning pedagogies e.g. Problem based learning, role play, peer assessment? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 58. Are students provided with guidelines as to how much time is required to be spent on academic work? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 59. Are students given opportunities to participate in co-curricula activities relevant to their possible career paths e.g. seminars, industry engagements, cultural events, committees? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 60. Are staff exposing students to the outcomes of faculty research activities as a way of engaging students with the discipline? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 61. Are students given guidelines about how much time should be spent on academic work? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 62. Are students given opportunities to use an electronic medium to discuss or complete an assignment? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 63. Are students encouraged to explore how their learning applies to the workplace? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 64. Are students encouraged to apply their learning to new or practical problems? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Engagement / 65. Do students have opportunities to discuss their grades or assignments with teaching staff? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Assessment / 66. Is there a map of due dates for assessment items across concurrent units in the First Year of this course? / Interview Course Coordinator
Assessment / 67. Is there a version of this map of due dates for assessment items across First Year available to Unit Coordinators, Tutors and students? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Assessment / 68. Has the range of assessment due dates for First Year been staggered to enable students to better manage their time? / Interview Course Coordinator, examine assessment map
Assessment / 69. Does each of the First Year Units have an appropriate item of formative assessment scheduled in the first four weeks of semester? / Examine Unit Outlines, Examine Assessment Map, Interview Unit Coordinators
Assessment / 70. What mechanisms do you use to provide early feedback? / Examine Unit Outlines, Examine Assessment Map, Interview Unit Coordinators
Assessment / 71. Are there opportunities for peer assessment and development of self-evaluation skills?
Assessment Feedback / 72. Does each formative assessment item in First Year units give students adequate feedback on the attainment of the basic academic and discipline related skills relevant to their unit? / Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Tutors, Interview students
Assessment / 73. In the First Year units, is there a variety of assessment types represented that is appropriate to the graduate capabilities identified for this course? / Examine assessment map, Compare with Graduate Capabilities map.
Assessment / 74. Have the First Year Unit Coordinators identified any products of assessment or unit activities that could be used as evidence of graduate capability development in the students' portfolio? / Interview Unit Coordinators.
Assessment / 75. Are students in the First Year introduced to a student portfolio/electronic portfolio? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators.
Design / 76. Are students provided with opportunities to reflect on and assess their progress? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators.
Assessment / 77. Are the skills required to complete each unit assessment item identified and scaffolded appropriately for First Year within the design of each unit? / Interview Unit Coordinators, examine unit documentation.
Assessment / 78. Are the program expectations consistent across the design of the course e.g. weighting for assessment types, workload etc.? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, examine unit documentation.
Assessment / 79. Are assessment items consistently named? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, examine unit documentation.
Assessment / 80. Is a glossary of assessment verbs and types provided to ensure clarity and consistency across the course? e.g. what is a poster? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, examine unit documentation.
Assessment / 81. Are assessment criteria consistent across the course? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, examine unit documentation.
Assessment / 82. Do you provide examples of previous assessment showing assessment tasks broken down by criterion? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, examine unit documentation.
Assessment / 83. Do the assessment items provide the foundation for the advanced skill development required by the end of the course? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators,
Assessment / 84. For any assigned task, are process skills, as well as the content skills, taught and assessed? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators,
Assessment / 85. Are there opportunities for students to self-assess the assumed course entry knowledge, skills and attitudes? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators,
Assessment / 86. Are there mechanisms in place for students to develop the entry knowledge, skills and attitudes that they lack? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators,
Monitoring Student Engagement / 87. Do First Year Unit Coordinators have a strategy for monitoring and responding to students who might be at-risk of not acquiring the basic academic and discipline related skills relevant to their unit? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators.
Evaluation / 88. Have the implications of the main issues identified in the latest First Year Experience Survey (FYES) for this course been identified? / Interview Course Coordinator
Evaluation / 89. Have the common issues among the corporately administered surveys been identified for this Course? / Interview Course Coordinator
Evaluation / 90. Based on the available evaluation data, have the areas of First Year students' learning experience most in need of improvement been identified? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators.
Evaluation Response / 91. Is there a process for monitoring how First Year Unit coordinators respond to LEX data and communicate to students about unit improvement? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators.
Evaluation Response / 92. Is the infrastructure (time and resources) in place to support Course and Unit Coordinators to make appropriate changes to units based on the results of the corporate data? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators.
Interview Assistant Dean T&L
Evaluation Response / 93. Have the various teaching and learning staff development opportunities, relevant to the areas of improvement highlighted by student evaluations, been identified? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Assistant Dean T&L
Evaluation Response / 94. Have any gaps in staff development, that have been identified in relation to the needs of the First Year teaching teams, been communicated to the Assistant Dean Teaching and Learning? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Assistant Dean T&L
Evaluation Response / 95. Have any gaps in staff development, that have been identified in relation to the needs of the professional staff working with First Year students, been communicated to the appropriate professional staff manager. / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview professional staff manager
Evaluation Response / 96. Are there strategies in place for communicating with First Year Unit Coordinators about key areas for improvement and staff development opportunities? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators, Interview Assistant Dean T&L
Evaluation Response / 97. Is there a strategy in place for communicating with your First Year students about student responses to course evaluations and the key areas targeted for improvement in the course? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Assistant Dean T&L
Leadership / 98. Are regular opportunities scheduled for the Course Coordinator to meet with the First Year Unit Coordinators to motivate and guide them and ensure a coordinated approach to the First Year experience? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Unit Coordinators
Leadership / 99. Are regular opportunities scheduled for the Course Coordinator to meet with the First Year support staff (learning advisors, tutors, professional staff etc.) to motivate and guide them and ensure a coordinated approach to the First Year experience? / Interview Course Coordinator, Interview Professional Staff Manager
Leadership / 100. Are there opportunities for Course Coordinators to engage in professional development around best practice in First Year? / Interview Course Coordinator,
First Year Evaluators Question Pool 1