Impact of Student Feedback on Lecturer’s Performance at Rwanda Polytechnic’s Kigali College

Abstract

This study fills the gap of formal student feedback mechanisms at Rwanda Polytechnic’s Kigali College, more specifically how this gap impacts lecturer performance in the Civil and Mechanical Engineering departments. The Feedback Intervention Theory which focuses on specific and practical feedback informed the study and a quantitative approach was adopted. A total of 90 second year students were selected using stratified random sampling and structured questionnaires were used to collect data. The findings of the study revealed that the students had a positive perception of the performance of the lecturers (overall mean = 3.41) and identified strengths in areas such as organization of the classes (mean = 3.89) and the applicability of the concepts taught in the real world (mean = 3.44). However, there were some weaknesses, such as ambiguity in instructions (mean = 2.96) and lecturers' availability (mean = 3.31). Students agreed with the proposal of implementing an anonymous online feedback system (mean = 4.56), but 64% of them were concerned that it may lead to negative consequences for their grades or relations with the lecturers. The study suggests the development of an anonymous feedback system, increased presence of lecturers, professional training, and the pilot feedback implementation to increase the effectiveness of teaching