Student satisfaction is of importance, but we should not confuse its measurement with the evaluation of teaching and we should not overemphasise it at the expense of the many other aspects of a programme which should be evaluated. The strategy required, then, encompasses much more than student satisfaction with teaching. Students are a good source of data for many things besides their satisfaction with lectures. It is also good to include them in carrying out evaluations. On one level doing so both causes students to reflect on the programme and their own involvement with it, and offers a further opportunity to gain transferable skills and build their CVs.
Evaluation is about making judgements on evidence to meet a particular purpose.
The success of the judgements depends on valid, reliable data from the most appropriate sources. The data ought to be complete and show relationships and trends as well as facts. Wherever possible more than one source of data should be used to triangulate and illuminate the evaluation. To be purposeful, evaluation should be concentrated on those things where staff are willing and able to take action. Importantly this condition includes as a positive outcome the decision that all is well and no change is necessary or desirable.