This book provides a comprehensive and engaging analysis of the purpose and function of student
evaluation in higher education. It explores its foundations and the emerging functions as well
as its future potential to improve the quality of university teaching and student learning. The
book systematically assesses the core assumptions underpinning the design of student evaluation
models as a tool to improve the quality of teaching. It also analyses the emerging influence of
student opinion as a key metric and a powerful proxy for assuring the quality of teachers
teaching and courses in universities. Using the voices of teachers in the day-to-day practices
of higher education the book also explores the actual perceptions held by academics about
student evaluation. It offers the first real attempt to critically analyse the developing
influence of student evaluation on contemporary approaches to academic teaching. Using a
practice-based perspective and the powerful explanatory potential of cultural historical
activity theory (CHAT) the implications of the changing focus in the use of the student voice
- from development to measurement - are systematically explored and assessed. Importantly
using the evidence provided by a unique series of practice-based case studies the book also
offers powerful new insights into how the student voice can be reconceptualised to more
effectively improve the quality of teaching curriculum and assessment. Based on this empirical
analysis a series of practical strategies are proposed to enhance the work of student
evaluation in the future university to drive pedagogical innovation. This unique volume
provides those interested in student evaluation with a more complex understanding of the
development contemporary function and future potential of the student voice. It also
demonstrates how the student voice - in combination with professional dialogue - can be used to
encourage more powerful and substantial forms of pedagogical improvement and academic
development in higher education environments.
