Pedagogical Surveys - IPUP

The IPUP is an instrument for collecting students' perceptions of teaching through a diverse and comprehensive set of questions relating to each course unit.

It is an instrument that mobilises teachers and students from the conception and completion of the surveys to the analysis of the results.

The answers are stored anonymously in the U. Porto information system.

The IPUPs are a valuable contribution, since they provide information and enable actions for the continuous improvement of education based on the voice of the students. The following actions stand out:

• Diagnosis of situations which, due to their persistence and seriousness, show less favourable results and the consequent adoption of initiatives aimed at overcoming these weaknesses.
• Recognising and valuing the work of teaching staff.
• Analysis of the functioning of the study programmes by the Scientific and Monitoring Committees, resulting in a reflection that is included in the annual reports.

Analysis of the Overall Results by the Pedagogical Councils, with a final public report that can be discussed and reflected on internally in each Organisational Unit.

The UPI consists of 18 items. Each item contains a statement or question on a scale of 1 to 7 for students to assign a certain value of agreement: "1" represents a very low level and "7" represents a very high level. They also include an item of written comments/suggestions (up to 4000 characters).

The items generally relate to three main dimensions:

• Curricular unit, in which structural, formal and content aspects are evaluated.
• Teacher, in which individual teaching practices and the way in which the teaching-learning process is organised are assessed.
• Student, assessing their level of involvement.

In each semester, the IPUPs are opened for filling after 90 per cent of the teaching period has elapsed. The filling-in period closes after the end of the assessment period for each semester.

During the filling-in period, when students log in to their personal SIGARRA page, they are automatically redirected to the pedagogical surveys.

In the case of non-term curricular units (SP), the UPIs are usually opened when the UPIs for first semester curricular units are opened, and remain open until the deadline for the UPIs for second semester curricular units and annual curricular units. To access the IPUP for curricular units without a term, students are not automatically redirected and must therefore select the menu option "Respond to Pedagogical Inquiries" from their personal SIGARRA page.

If a course is not available in the surveys during the period in which it is being filled out, it is in most cases because the number of students enrolled in it is low. To protect student confidentiality, curricular units with fewer than 10 students enrolled are not included in the pedagogical surveys.

Yes. Mobility students have access to the pedagogical surveys that correspond to the course units in which they are enrolled.

In the case of semester-long curricular units, students are directed to the corresponding IPUP during the semester.

In the case of annual curricular units, the surveys are available in the second semester, which corresponds to the end of the academic year. Even if mobility students are not physically on the premises of the University of Porto, they can access the surveys via their personal pages on SIGARRA.

The educational surveys are available in Portuguese and English.

After the end of the period for filling in the IPUP, global statistics are generated and can be consulted in SIGARRA.

If you are a teacher - you have access to all the answers for your course and the overall results.

If you are a Student - you have access to the overall results.

If you are a Course Director - you have access to all the answers for the course you direct and the overall results.

If you are Director/President of the Board of Directors, President of the Scientific Council, President of the Pedagogical Council - you have access to all the responses from all the courses in the corresponding Organisational Unit and the overall results.

You can check the UPI results by analysing them graphically or in table form. To visualise the results graphically, select the "Global Graph" option in the "Type of Analysis" box. If you select the "Comparative Table" option, you will see the results in table form. You can change the selection whenever you wish.

The results can be analysed along two axes:

• Scope - You can analyse at the level of the institution, by course, by curricular unit and by teacher.
• Level of Detail - You can analyse the survey as a whole, by dimension or by question.

It should be noted that access to this level of detail depends on the permissions assigned to those analysing the results obtained through the Pedagogical Surveys.

The reading and interpretation of the UPI data must take into account certain specificities.

The dimensions being analysed (UC, teaching staff and students) are relative in nature, which requires contextualising the data. What are the implications of this relative nature?

• The level achieved in a given dimension, be it low or high, does not have an immediate or unique reading. For example, if the main objective of a course is to promote student knowledge and not so much to develop research skills, a lower student evaluation in the latter dimension should be compared with the course information and analysed from that perspective.
• The reading of the results should favour intra-cycle comparisons. There are often variations in student evaluations according to gender, age, area of study, type of course, among other factors, so it is not appropriate to make direct comparisons.

Databases with results that are analysed successively over time allow for a more reliable diagnosis of the strengths and weaknesses of study plans.

The completion of the IPUP results in assessment reports for each course unit. If access to these reports is combined with consultancy for lecturers, scrutiny by lecturers or meetings for curricular and pedagogical reflection, the effects of the IPUP on improving teaching will be realised.

It is up to each Organisational Unit to decide how it publishes and disseminates the results obtained in the IPUP, but the importance of returning these results to the students, explaining the impact of the results, is reinforced.

In this way, students are aware of the changes that have been made, which may motivate them to become more involved in the process of evaluating teaching at U.Porto.