Faculty often find it useful to work with an instructional consultant to gather data about a course during the mid-semester period. Such feedback can be used to:
- make adjustments to a course while there is still time to do so,
- signal to students the professor’s investment in the course, and
- provide additional evidence of teaching effectiveness (to supplement end-of-semester evaluations and peer review).
The following are some popular approaches to gathering mid-semester feedback:
Written feedback
Small Group Interview
Classroom observation
Classroom videotaping
Written feedback
Gathering written mid-semester feedback from students takes little in-class time (about five minutes), yet can generate useful data about students’ perceptions of a course. Most often structured around a couple of open-ended questions (i.e. “What is helping you learn in this class?” “What suggestions do you have for improving your learning?”), written feedback can also be used as an opportunity to gather information about a specific aspect of a course (a new textbook, for example) or to have students’ assess their own work in the class (i.e. “Name one thing you could do to improve our class discussions”).
What the CTL will do: Stacy will work with you to design the feedback form, come to your class to collect the feedback, organize and type up the students’ comments, and meet with you to discuss the feedback implications and to brainstorm possible ways of addressing them.
Small Group Interview
The small group interview (sometimes called a Small Group Instructional Diagnosis, or SGID) takes more time (about 20 minutes) but allows for more detailed feedback. An SGID is structured so that students first discuss their thoughts about the class in small groups and then with the class as a whole. The CTL facilitator then asks follow-up questions of students so as to clarify more precisely what students’ concerns and suggestions are.
What the CTL will do: After meeting with you to learn more about your course, Stacy will come to the last twenty minutes of your class and lead the students through a guided discussion to identify what they see as the strengths of the course and areas for improvement. She will then organize and type up the students’ comments and meet with you to discuss the students’ feedback and brainstorm effective strategies for addressing it.
Classroom observation
The CTL approaches classroom observation less as an evaluation than as a representation of what’s happening in the classroom: as providing a second set of eyes and ears to notice things a faculty member might not otherwise. The CTL is happy either to come observe a class or to help colleagues work together to insure a good peer observation experience.
What the CTL will do: After meeting with you to learn more about your course and any particular concerns you have, Stacy will attend one or two of your class sessions, making detailed notes as to what is happening in class and students’ reactions to it. She will then type up her observations and discuss them with you, identifying possible areas for change.
Classroom videotaping
Videotaping can seem daunting, but it can also provide faculty an invaluable opportunity to assess their own teaching.
What the CTL will do: Stacy will arrange to have one of your classes videotaped and then will meet with you afterward to view the tape and discuss its implications for your teaching.
