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last updated: Jun 10 2007
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Common Teaching Problems

Hearing from Your Students: The Value of Student Feedback

Why do we want feedback on our teaching? First, we want to make sure that our students are learning, and second, we want to continue to develop expertise as instructors. The TA role provides us with an opportunity to develop and to hone our teaching skills over time. Without feedback, we are left to rely solely on student performance, on sometimes ambiguous course instructor surveys, or on our subjective (and not always reliable) impressions of how things are going.

Usually when we think about getting feedback from students we think about those dreaded evaluations (course instructor surveys). But, the most valuable feedback on teaching can be received in a formative way over the course of the semester. By gathering regular feedback from our students, we are given the opportunity to make changes in our teaching and to make a difference with our current students instead of waiting for their evaluations at the end of the semester and making changes for the next class.

So, how do we get this feedback? Most simply, we can just ask. In her keynote address to TAs at our most recent experienced TA conference, English professor Dr. Elizabeth Richmond-Garza suggested that we should ask our students such questions as, "How's the class going? What do you like? How can I make it more valuable?" When we can acquire this information from our students, it helps us meet them halfway and better understand how they learn and how they respond to our teaching methods.

When would we want to ask for feedback from our students? A few logical times might include mid-term, just before or after an exam, just after a particularly difficult lecture or class discussion, or anytime you've made changes in your teaching techniques, activities or materials.

Besides just asking questions in a discussion format, here are several specific examples of CATS (classroom assessment techniques) that can be administered relatively quickly and easily. According to the book, Classroom Assessment Techniques, "the central purpose of Classroom Assessment is to empower both teachers and their students to improve the quality of learning in the classroom." CATS need to be designed for the individual situation, and should reflect the concerns or interests of teachers and students.

Some examples of commonly used CATS include:

  • Utilize minute papers. Ask students to spend a couple of minutes at the end of class summarizing what they got out of class (the main points) and what questions still remain.
  • A variation of this technique is "muddiest point" in which students share their points of confusion regarding the day's discussion.
  • Invite student input over e-mail. Simply send out an e-mail asking one or two fairly specific questions about your teaching. You might say, for example, "In class every day I use overhead transparencies to emphasize points. How helpful is this?"
  • Administer a post-exam or post-assignment evaluation in which you inquire about student preparation and effort as well as an assessment of the exam as a learning tool. See one example of a post-exam survey at the Supplemental Instruction Web site at the UT Learning Center: http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/tc/si/manual/testprep-analysis/postexam-survey1.doc.

If you're trying a new teaching method, for example group work, administer a brief questionnaire early on to see how well the new method is working, and what changes students might recommend to improve its effectiveness.

Now, what to do with this feedback. First, share it with the students. Summarize the responses, do a little analysis and report back to the class. If you've gotten adequate feedback to suggest trying some new approaches in your teaching, tell them. If the feedback tells you that there are things they can do to modify their approaches to learning or studying, tell them that as well. Lead a brief discussion of the results and their implications. Be willing to make changes if student input strongly suggests the need.

Some teachers report that, when they ask for feedback frequently and respond to that feedback, the climate of their classroom changes for the better. When students observe their instructors taking responsibility for improving their teaching, students become more responsible for improving their learning. With continued practice in asking for and receiving formative feedback, eventually students and teachers become partners in the learning process.

If you'd like more examples or information on CATS, check out a CATS web-site at Southern Illinois University: http://www.siue.edu/~deder/assess/catmain.html or see the book: Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers by Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross.

For examples of brief assessments designed for mid-term, see:

Useful Links

In need of inspiration? Check out these discipline-specific web-sites on teaching effectiveness.