Wednesday 19 December 2018

MSc/PGD Real Estate Investment Finance and Student Feedback

Today, the REIF Team received an award from the university for outstanding results on the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES 2018). The PTES is the UK higher education sector-wide survey to gain insight from taught postgraduate students about their learning and teaching experience and has 6 themes: teaching, engagement, assessment and feedback, organisation and management, resources and skills development. The MSc/PGD Real Estate Investment Finance scored 100% across all 6 themes.

The REIF Team

The REIF Team asks students for feedback at the end of each module and also for the REIF Subject Committee meetings which are held twice a year (and which are attended by a student rep). Feedback is discussed and we decide how to act on that feedback. We can then let our students know how we have used their feedback to develop the course. And so, here's what we've been doing recently...

Our students are spread all over the world (take a look here to find out exactly where) and so it is important for them to interact with each other and with us, to share their experiences and improve the learning experience. We aim to facilitate these interactions via webinars, but students wanted an additional, more informal approach. After some research and a number of trials, we started a REIF group on WhatsApp. This has been very successful as it is accessible to all (and in all locations), quick and informal. As well as the main group, our students have formed their own student-led groups for each module.

Students requested more videos within each module - something that we feel is very important and contributes to the sense of community and belonging to the course. We have developed a series of podcasts for each module, based around the learning packages and some modules also contain longer video lectures. We have also developed a series of induction videos for students on more general topics such as how to use the online Library.

We hold webinars during each module to bring students together online. As not all students are able to attend these we record each session and make the recording available to all students on the module. As a result of a request for more lecturer-student contact, we have increased the frequency of these (there are at least two webinars for each module) and we have also introduced a weekly virtual office hour for each module.

Students were concerned about a lack of communication about when final results would be officially confirmed and arrangements for graduation, degree certificates and transcripts. We now have a standard email that explains the process and this is sent to all students when they submit their Dissertation (MSc) or complete their final module (PGD).

And still on the subject of communication, we have agreed a maximum response time of 3 days - so we should respond to your queries within 3 working days (after this students are free to send us reminders). This is highlighted in the REIF Induction.

There was a concern that Development Appraisal was not covered in the MSc/PGD REIF. This will now be included in the Real Estate Investment Market module from January 2019.

For more information on the MSc/PGD REIF, take a look at the links below:

MSc/PGD REIF on our website
MSc/PGD REIF on our blog





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