Notes & News Student Feedback: Contributing to Curricular Change
As a teacher, it is not too early to begin thinking about getting feedback from your students about how they are learning in your course. Yes we use quizzes, tests and projects to assess student learning in general, but in what ways are we getting timely feedback from students about how they are or are not learning in our courses. Of course we do administer student evaluations at the end of the semester, which provide faculty with some kind of feedback about our teaching and student learning, but these assessments may come too late to benefit particular class. Often the feedback does not help as much as we would like in order for us to improve as teachers.
Early Semester Student Feedback Strategies
Featured Staff Member:
Mike Siebenaler Graduate Assistant Mike has been married to his wonderful wife, Heidi, for nine years. Both of them take care of Heidi’s 13 year-old brother in Bowling Green.
Mike received his undergraduate degree in technical writing at BGSU in 1995, then worked at local companies for eight years before returning to BGSU’s technical writing graduate program. At CTLT Mike assists with..
• Blackboard consulting. If you want to use student feedback in a more constructive way for • Specialized programs including EndNotes improving a class, consider a fast and constructive technique inand the CPS system. volving student feedback that is used early in the semester. Known • Seminars/troubleshooting. by various names, such as Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (SGID) or Group Instructional Feedback Technique (GIFT), this technique requires colleague/facilitator to visit your class for about 20-25 minutes to work with your students to get their responses to three prompts such as:
• • •
Give one or two examples of specific things your instructor does that really help you learn in this course? Give one or two examples of specific things your instructor does that make it more difficult for you to learn in this course? Suggest one or two specific, practical changes your instructor could make that would help you improve your learning in this class.
In general, the facilitator administering this assessment uses a process that allows students in small groups to compare responses and then come up with a short list of responses that are representative yet focused. The facilitator writes down the focused comments from the students choosing only the most important comments as chosen by the students. The responses are given a percentage representing those who agree with the comment. After the session, the facilitator summarizes the student responses and provides feedback to the instructor based on student comments. The entire process is very professional and allows anonymity to students while giving very helpful feedback to an instructor. CTLT offers SGIDs throughout the year through a confidential process administered by the Director. If you choose to support a colleague by offering to administer such an assessment, CTLT will work with both faculty to guide them in the process. If you are interested in participating in one of these SGIDs or want to learn more, call Dan Madigan (Director) at 2-9398 to make an appointment to discuss this strategy.
The Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology * 201 University Hall * 419-372-6898 * http://ctlt.bgsu.edu/ February, 2004
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Volume 4, Issue 4