Student Voice Analytics for Computer Games and Animation — UK student feedback 2018–2025

Scope. UK NSS open-text comments for Computer Games and Animation (CAH11-01-06) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~1,329 comments; 97% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 53.2% Positive, 43.9% Negative, 2.9% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.21:1).

What students are saying

Students talk first about the people teaching them. Teaching Staff is the single largest topic by share (≈9.1%) and is consistently positive in tone (index ~+34.1), close to the wider sector. They also devote substantial attention to Feedback (≈8.7%). Its tone is near neutral overall (index ~−1.4) yet notably better than the sector baseline, suggesting many students are seeing constructive practices even as others still ask for clearer, more actionable comments and timely turnaround.

Facilities stand out in two directions. IT Facilities is unusually prominent (≈6.8% share, well above sector) and skews negative (index ~−17.7), pointing to recurring issues with access, reliability or usability of core digital tools. In contrast, General facilities is mentioned positively (index ~+20.5). Other learning-resource topics are mixed: Learning resources trends positive, while Library (smaller by volume) is more critical.

Career guidance is a strong point (≈6.0% share) with very positive tone (index ~+47.3, well above sector), and students also report gains in Personal development (index ~+56.3), plus positive experiences around Student life and collaboration Opportunities with other students.

The delivery mechanics of teaching are more mixed. Delivery of teaching (≈5.4% share) leans negative relative to sector, and Remote learning remains critical where it appears. Organisation and scheduling are smaller topics here, but when mentioned they are negative in tone. Workload and Costs/Value for money are among the most negative categories (indices around −54), though they account for a modest share of comments. Placements/fieldwork is rarely discussed in this discipline (≈0.6% vs higher sector presence), and where it is mentioned, the tone is generally positive.

Top categories by share (discipline vs sector):

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Teaching Staff	The teaching on my course	9.1	6.7	+2.4	+34.1	−1.4
Feedback	Assessment and feedback	8.7	7.3	+1.4	−1.4	+13.6
IT Facilities	Learning resources	6.8	1.2	+5.6	−17.7	−3.7
Type and breadth of course content	Learning opportunities	6.7	6.9	−0.2	+16.3	−6.2
Career guidance, support	Learning community	6.0	2.4	+3.6	+47.3	+17.2
Delivery of teaching	The teaching on my course	5.4	5.4	0.0	−10.0	−18.7
COVID-19	Others	5.3	3.3	+1.9	−36.8	−3.8
General facilities	Learning resources	4.9	1.8	+3.1	+20.5	−3.0
Student support	Academic support	4.6	6.2	−1.6	−2.1	−15.3
Personal development	Learning community	4.1	2.5	+1.6	+56.3	−3.5

Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Costs / Value for money	Others	2.3	1.6	+0.7	−54.4	−1.7
Workload	Organisation and management	2.6	1.8	+0.7	−54.0	−14.0
Marking criteria	Assessment and feedback	2.4	3.5	−1.1	−45.6	+0.1
COVID-19	Others	5.3	3.3	+1.9	−36.8	−3.8
Remote learning	The teaching on my course	2.7	3.5	−0.8	−26.8	−17.8
Organisation, management of course	Organisation and management	2.2	3.3	−1.1	−21.5	−7.5
IT Facilities	Learning resources	6.8	1.2	+5.6	−17.7	−3.7

Shares are the proportion of all Computer Games and Animation comments whose primary topic is the category. Sentiment index ranges from −100 (more negative than positive) to +100 (more positive than negative).

Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Personal development	Learning community	4.1	2.5	+1.6	+56.3	−3.5
Career guidance, support	Learning community	6.0	2.4	+3.6	+47.3	+17.2
Student life	Learning community	3.6	3.2	+0.4	+36.9	+4.8
Teaching Staff	Teaching	9.1	6.7	+2.4	+34.1	−1.4
Opportunities to work with other students	Learning community	3.1	2.0	+1.1	+25.0	+24.0
Availability of teaching staff	Academic support	2.2	2.1	+0.1	+21.9	−17.4
General facilities	Learning resources	4.9	1.8	+3.1	+20.5	−3.0

What this means in practice

Stabilise the digital experience. The prominence and tone of IT Facilities point to recurring friction. Treat core systems as a service: publish simple uptime targets, pre‑term checks, clear escalation routes and a single source of truth for outages and changes. Where remote delivery is used, set expectations early (platform, format, etiquette) and keep materials accessible after the session.
Make assessment clarity the default. Students respond well when it’s obvious what good looks like. Use checklist‑style rubrics mapped to learning outcomes, provide annotated exemplars, and set a realistic feedback SLA. Calibrate marking within the team and close the loop by signposting how to use feedback on the next task.
Keep investing in people‑centred strengths. Maintain the conditions that produce high scores for Teaching Staff, Career guidance and Personal development: visible availability, practical guidance, and structured opportunities to build confidence and collaboration.
Reduce operational noise. Even where scheduling and organisation are a smaller share, they are reliably negative when mentioned. A weekly “what changed and why” note and named ownership for timetable/communications can cut frustration quickly.

Data at a glance (2018–2025)

Top topics by share are stable: Teaching Staff (≈9.1%), Feedback (≈8.7%), IT Facilities (≈6.8%), Type and breadth of course content (≈6.7%), and Career guidance, support (≈6.0%).
Delivery & ops cluster (placements/fieldwork, scheduling, organisation & management, course communications, remote learning) accounts for ~8.3% of all comments and leans negative.
People & growth cluster (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, availability of teaching staff, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life) holds ~29.6% of comments, with strong positive tone overall.
How to read the numbers. Each comment is assigned one primary topic; share is that topic’s proportion of all comments. Sentiment is calculated per sentence and summarised as an index from −100 to +100, then averaged at category level.

How Student Voice Analytics helps you

Student Voice Analytics turns open‑text survey comments into clear priorities you can act on. It tracks topics, sentiment and movement by year so you can see what is changing within Computer Games and Animation and across the whole institution, as well as at department and school level.

It enables like‑for‑like sector comparisons across CAH codes and by demographics (e.g., year of study, domicile, mode of study, campus/site, commuter status), so you can evidence improvement against the right peer group. You can segment by site/provider, cohort and year to pinpoint where interventions will move sentiment most, and share concise, anonymised theme summaries with programme teams and external partners. Export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) make it straightforward to communicate priorities and progress.