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Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units (SETU)

SETU (Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units) is a way to hear from students about their experience of learning within a unit. The responses provide you and the University with a broad indicator of students' experience of their learning journey.

The data is used by:

individual educators to note areas of strength in their teaching practice and any areas where improvements can be made;
faculties and the University to monitor units, courses and teaching;
faculties as a basis for annual reports of improvements made to their units in response to student feedback; and
learning and teaching support areas to identify priorities for targeted strategies to support teaching staff.

It is important to realise that SETU:

does not measure learning and does not measure teaching quality, but rather students’ experiences of learning and teaching;
is an important channel for student voice;
is used as a measure of the ‘health’ of units at a university level, pointing to areas for improvement;
is a prompt for educators to investigate student feedback; and
is a means of eliciting feedback, is underpinned by TEQSA HE Standards, Learning and Teaching Policy and Quality Procedures.

Note

In 2025, the University introduced a new unit survey instrument to provide more reliable and accurate insights into students' learning experiences. The new instrument applies a Rasch methodology to Unit Evaluation, with one comprehensive scale that provides enhanced insight into the complex and underlying construct of student experience. Learn more about the rationale behind this change, what it means for educators and the SETU project timelines here.

Survey instrument implementation

SETU is administered each teaching period for coursework units. Faculties elect which units and teaching staff are included for evaluation each teaching period in line with the SETU procedures.

The survey is usually open for a number of weeks toward the end of the teaching period and closes before the end of the scheduled final assessment period.

diagram showing the SETU procedure

SETU questions

SETU comprises of two surveys, the unit evaluation and teaching evaluation. Click the accordions below to learn about the questions within the surveys.

- Before October 13th 2025
- After October 13th 2025
The following core set of questions - answered on a 5-point Likert scale: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree - are administered across all units:
The Learning Outcomes for this unit were clear to me
The instructions for Assessment tasks were clear to me
The Assessment in this unit allowed me to demonstrate the learning outcomes
The Feedback helped me achieve the Learning Outcomes for the unit
The Resources helped me achieve the Learning Outcomes for the unit
The Activities helped me achieve the Learning Outcomes for the unit
I attempted to engage in this unit to the best of my ability
Overall, I was satisfied with this unit
These items were selected using Rasch methodology to work together as one unified measure, producing a single calibrated Unit Evaluation score out of 100.
We’ve retained the item "Overall, I was satisfied with this unit". This item is not included in the Unit Evaluation score; it's included for continuity.
The following core set of qualitative questions are administered across all units:
Which aspect(s) of this unit did you find most effective?
Would you suggest any changes to enhance this unit in the future?
Unit evaluation: Item bank questions
Faculties may include up to 5 additional questions from the item bank questions.
Refer to the SETU faculty item bank templates for more details.
The following core set of questions - answered on a 5-point Likert scale: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree - are administered across all units:
This unit materials provided were helpful for completing the assessment tasks
This unit assessment tasks helped me develop new skills
The content on the Moodle site was consistently updated to reflect the progression of the unit
The links to external resources or websites on the Moodle site were clearly labeled and relevant
The pacing of this unit material allowed me to fully engage and develop understanding
I believe this unit helped me strengthen my ability to work effectively in teams and collaborate with peers
This unit contributed to my understanding of ethical considerations and decision-making skills
I could quickly find information or resources within this unit’s Moodle site
It was easy to catch up on anything I missed in this unit
Overall, I was satisfied with this unit
The following core set of qualitative questions are administered across all units:
Which aspect(s) of this unit did you find most effective?
Would you suggest any changes to enhance this unit in the future?
Unit evaluation: Item bank questions
Faculties may include up to 5 additional questions from the item bank questions.
Refer to the SETU faculty item bank templates for more details.
From Semester 1, 2021, units where staff have been selected for teaching evaluation, 4 questions will be repeated for each staff member that the student elects to evaluate.
Questions within the Teaching Evaluation section use a 5-point Likert scale: Not at all, Below Average, Average, Above Average, Very much.
To what extent do you feel that:
1. <Staff name> demonstrated concern for student learning
2. <Staff name> provided clear explanations on coursework and assessment
3. <Staff name> stimulated you intellectually
4. <Staff name> commented on your work in ways that helped you learn
Prior to Semester 1, 2021, the teaching evaluation questions were:
1. <Staff name> was well prepared
2. <Staff name> was enthusiastic in the way they presented the unit
3. <Staff name> was clear in their explanations
4. <Staff name> provided useful feedback to students
5. <Staff name> provided opportunities for interaction
6. Overall, I was satisfied with <Staff name>'s teaching (introduced in Semester 1, 2019)

Optional mini scales based on targeted domains

Diagnostic domains	Evaluating teaching	Evaluating units
Assessment	Explanation of tasks Support to complete tasks Feedback on assessments	Links to content & purpose Weighting Level of challenge
Communication	Clarity of language Response to questions	Clarity of unit content Clarity of unit learning sequence
Learning activities	Engaging learning activities Peer discussion/Formative feedback Demonstrating target skills	Emphasis on skills development
Sense of belonging	Fostering connections to peers Welcoming learning environments Responsiveness to students	Sense of links to profession

Note

For more information about the methodology of calculating SETU scores, read the SETU Methodology paper.

Frequently Asked Questions

Pedagogical Philosophy & Assessment Methodology

The new SETU uses Rasch methodology, which calibrates questions to function as a single measurement scale. Some are easier for students to agree with, while others are harder. When students rate a unit positively, they tend to agree with both. It’s the overall pattern of responses that produces the score, not any single question.
Individual questions aren’t meant to be read in isolation. Some are designed to be easier or harder, so low agreement on one item doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem in that area. The strength of the Rasch approach is that it accounts for item difficulty and produces a reliable overall score. Single items are best understood as building blocks of the scale, not standalone measures.
Students answer the nine core unit questions on a 0 - 4 scale (Strongly disagree to Strongly agree). Their responses are averaged and then converted to a 0 - 100 scale for reporting, keeping scores consistent with teaching evaluations. While this looks like a simple average, the questions were validated using Rasch analysis to ensure the overall score is a robust measure of student experience.

Question Design & Wording

The Rasch method we’ve now applied allows us to identify just how difficult or easy an item is (including where subjectivity impacts this) and use it to build a more sophisticated measure. Students don't need to interpret these phrases identically - the Rasch methodology accounts for natural variation in how individuals understand and respond to items. The 21,500 student pilot examined how items functioned for different student groups to validate this.
In the Rasch method, questions are meant to work together as a scale and we ask multiple questions to get a single finding that’s more accurate. What may seem like duplication, is a result of items being designed to ensure some are easier and some harder to agree with. This enables us to differentiate between the intensity of student sentiment across a full spectrum.
This is a result of items being designed to ensure some are easier and some harder to agree with. In the Rasch method, we ask multiple questions to get a single finding that’s more accurate. The differentiated language emphasis enables us to differentiate between the intensity of student sentiment across a full spectrum.
Moodle is key to understanding students' experience of navigating and understanding the connections that they have been provided with. In testing the new SETU instrument, items more generally about things that are asynchronous and synchronous - like activities - did not behave consistently as part of the unit-level scale; they worked much more reliably as indicators of educator-student interaction.
Not every question will apply equally across all units. The questions are designed to work together as a scale, so if a particular item isn’t relevant to your unit, students typically respond in a consistent way and it means it will not affect the overall result.
This item is designed to capture whether students feel their learning has practical applications beyond the classroom. “Real world skills” can include applying disciplinary knowledge to authentic problems, developing transferable skills like teamwork or communication, or making connections with professional practice.
“Intellectual stimulation” reflects whether students felt the unit challenged them to think deeply, critically, or creatively about the subject matter. It does not prescribe a particular style of teaching but captures the extent to which students engage at a higher level with the material.
Students often expect to develop new skills in each unit, even when units are designed to consolidate or extend existing ones. The wording encourages students to reflect on whether the unit offered opportunities to build or apply skills in fresh ways. Because the scale works as a whole, not every item must apply equally to every unit - responses to less-relevant items are taken into account mathematically and do not disadvantage educators.
This refers to keeping Moodle sites current so that students can access materials in a timely way. It does not require weekly updates for their own sake. For example, if resources for Week 4 are not posted until Week 8, students experience this as an out-of-date site. Educators who prefer to upload all resources at the start of semester are not disadvantaged - the key is that the site reflects the progression of the unit and remains accessible to students.
No. This question is not intended to suggest that attendance is optional or unimportant. Rather, it recognises that students may occasionally miss classes for legitimate reasons (such as illness or work commitments). The item measures whether units provide clear structures and accessible resources so students can continue learning if they do miss a class. Attendance expectations remain a matter for each unit and faculty.
The instrument was tested extensively with over 21,000 students, including large numbers of non-native English speakers. Items that functioned differently across language groups were removed or revised. Importantly, Rasch methodology does not rely on all students interpreting wording identically - what matters is that items together form a reliable measurement scale.

How to interpret unit evaluation surveys How to interpret teaching evaluations surveys

Administration

The administration of SETU is handled by the Enterprise Insights and Intelligence team in collaboration with Faculties. This includes the collection and dissemination of the data to Faculties.

Learning and Teaching: Teach HQ

Learning and Teaching: Teach HQ

Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units (SETU)

Note

Survey instrument implementation

SETU questions

How the optional scales work

The optional mini targeted scales

Note

Frequently Asked Questions

Pedagogical Philosophy & Assessment Methodology

Question Design & Wording

Administration

SETU survey results

SETU administration support

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