Last week, students filled out mid-course surveys to give you feedback on what they perceive is going well in the course and what could help their learning. You should have received an email with directions on how to access this feedback in Canvas. If you have any questions or issues accessing the feedback, please submit a Mines Help Center request.
Collecting midcourse feedback provides an opportunity to make adjustments to the course before the end of the semester and communicates to students that the instructor cares about their learning. Here are some strategies for how to respond to the feedback students provided.
Strategies to Implement This Week
- Recommendation: Start off class one day with a brief discussion of what you’ve learned from the mid-course survey with your class. Here are some aspects to include in this discussion:
- Thank students for providing thoughtful feedback (which takes time and thought).
- Acknowledge parts of the course that are going well to help reinforce the pedagogical reason why you have structured the course the way you have.
- For example: “It sounds like many people find the clicker questions helpful. I wanted to give you a chance to get some immediate feedback on your learning, and I’m glad to hear that the clicker questions are working for that.”
- Discuss suggested changes you plan to enact.
- For example: “Many of you mentioned that the group discussions do not feel very productive right now. One option is that I could provide a structured list of questions to work through, but I’m also curious to hear from you all what would make the discussions feel more productive.”
- Discuss suggested changes that you do not plan to enact or cannot enact and why. It is helpful to describe the pedagogical reason why you have structured the course in that way or to describe the reason why you cannot make the change.
- For example: “It seems that many people don’t like the reading quizzes. I include these quizzes to help make sure everyone is ready to participate, because our discussions are much richer when everyone is prepared. For that reason, I’m going to keep the reading quizzes.”
- Recommendation: Enact the changes and see how they go!
If you are interested in learning more, or you have additional questions, visit the Continuity website or submit a meeting request here. Keep an eye out each week for more information and tips.