Listening to students: course evaluation as action research

Course evaluation is an important but often neglected aspect of the education process, usually carried out too late and in a cursory fashion. The writer argues that evaluation should play an important part in curriculum development, and outlines a student-centred evaluation process in which the course members themselves design and implement a programme that uncovers issues that they feel are relevant and of value. Furthermore, the scheme described here is fully integrated into the curriculum, and the process of carrying out the evaluation is an important learning experience in itself. By implementing the findings and recommendations from the evaluation while the course is still in progress, students are able to reap the benefits of their own work, at the same time contributing to a living, growing, dynamic curriculum.