Table 1.
Summary table of the principal components analysis of the CEQ with veterinary students revealing four broad factors related to “generic skills” (Factor 1), “workload and content” (Factor 2), “staff and teaching” (Factor 3), and “student expectations” (Factor 4)
| CEQ item | Factor 1 | Factor 2 | Factor 3 | Factor 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5. The course sharpened my analytic skills | 0.807 | |||
| 2. The course developed my problem-solving skills | 0.801 | |||
| 9. The course helped me to develop my ability to work as a team member | 0.793 | |||
| 22. My course helped me to develop the ability to plan my own work | 0.768 | |||
| 11. The course improved my skills in written communication | 0.686 | |||
| 10. As a result of my course, I feel confident about tackling unfamiliar problems | 0.685 | 0.284 | ||
| 25. Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of this course | 0.667 | 0.316 | 0.304 | |
| 3. The teaching staff on this course motivated me to do my best work | 0.576 | 0.383 | ||
| 23. The sheer volume of work to be got through in this course means you can’t comprehend it all thoroughly | 0.77 | |||
| 4. The work was too heavy | 0.595 | |||
| 19. Too many staff on this course ask us questions just about facts | 0.585 | |||
| 12. Staff on this course seem more interested in testing what you’ve memorized than what you’ve understood | 0.511 | |||
| 16. The course is overly theoretical and abstract | 0.412 | |||
| 14. I was generally given enough time to understand the things we have to learn | 0.501 | −0.253 | −0.356 | |
| 8. To do well in this course all you really need is a good memory | 0.338 | 0.343 | ||
| 21. There was a lot of pressure on me to do well in this course | 0.251 | |||
| 15. The staff on this course make a real effort to understand difficulties students may be having with their work | 0.687 | 0.28 | ||
| 20. Teaching staff on this course work hard to make their subjects interesting | 0.597 | |||
| 7. Staff on this course put a lot of time into commenting on student’s work | 0.27 | 0.584 | ||
| 17. Teaching staff on this course normally give helpful feedback on how you’re doing | 0.54 | 0.264 | ||
| 18. Our lecturers are extremely good at explaining things to us | 0.527 | 0.289 | ||
| 6. You usually have a clear idea of where you’re going and what’s expected of you in this course | 0.299 | 0.774 | ||
| 1. It is always easy here to know the standard of work expected | 0.63 | |||
| 13. It is often hard to discover what’s expected of you in this course | −0.566 | 0.632 | ||
| 24. The staff on this course make it clear right from the start what they expect of students | 0.446 | 0.586 |
Note: The values in bold are factors with a loading >0.4.
Abbreviation: CEQ, Course Evaluation Questionnaire.