Getting Mid-Term Feedback

Seeking feedback from students as to how the course is going from their perspective, before the "formal" evaluation process at the end of the term, allows for meaningful adjustments that may enhance student learning and attitudes. It takes very little time, and the results are usually quite enlightening.

You might take 5 or so minutes at the start of class to ask students to respond anonymously on paper to a set of questions such as the following:

Please describe one or two specific things that the instructor(s) is/are doing that help your learning in this course.
Please describe one or two specific things that the instructor(s) could do to improve student learning in this course.
Please identify one or two specific things that you could do to improve your learning in this course.

A variation is simply to ask students to identify two or three things they like about the course and why, and two or three things they think could be improved and why. You may also have some very specific questions to ask students about particular elements of the course. For those of you using myWPI, Survey Manager can be used to gather this type of mid-course feedback, but be prepared for a lower response rate than if you set aside 5 minutes in class!

Of course, if you do ask students for feedback, it should be clear to them that their efforts have not disappeared into a black hole. It'’s worth taking a couple of minutes in the next class period, or perhaps via email or on the course web site, to summarize and respond to their feedback thoughtfully. You could mention the most common responses to each question, and then take the opportunity to explain what changes you will make, what you are unwilling or unable to change and why, and to reiterate and clarify the course goals and the purposes behind your instructional methods.

Maintained by webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: Aug 21, 2007, 12:10 EDT