Importance of student feedback in improving mechanical engineering courses

The purpose of this study is to review and analyse the importance of responding to feedback from students attending my courses on their learning outcomes and their satisfaction with various elements of my courses: one traditional course titled Solid Mechanics and Computational Analysis and a learner-centred course titled Fluid and Electrical Drive Systems. Central Queensland University utilises online evaluations for each course in each term of the year through a student experience survey. With careful consideration and evaluation of these data using a new student feedback evaluation framework developed by the author, some appropriate teaching interventions are developed and implemented during each term. The research question is to analyse the effectiveness of this framework by collecting the same data through subsequent student experience surveys. The student experience survey data for my courses showed that student satisfaction was increasing gradually for best managed courses, indicating that proactive implementation of appropriate responses to student feedback on their learning journey is effective in improving both student satisfaction and learning.