Feedback through Class Dialogue

This process can be used to gather feedback in any course. However, it is particularly useful for classes where one of the following is true:

• you have taught your course fewer than three times in the past,
• you have implemented new features into your course,
• you have not used this process in your course for several years,
• you have specific questions about your current students’ experience in your course.

While a discussion like this can be useful at any time during the semester, it is often wise to aim for weeks 4-6 of a semester long course. This gives enough time for the students to form opinions about their experience in the class, but leaves enough time for the instructor to make changes in the course in response to student feedback. In addition, it is useful to avoid scheduling your class dialogue immediately following a major assessment (since that experience can become an unwarranted focus for student comments).

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You should expect to invest time in this process as follows:

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Anyone with experience talking to students can be trained to conduct this process. Center for Teaching and Learning faculty are available to conduct this conversation on your behalf, or to train others to do the same. Whoever you choose, your facilitator should be someone you trust to be honest and to provide you with constructive feedback, and to engage with your students in a way that elicits a breadth of opinions and perspectives.

The facilitator’s job is to be the voice of the students to the instructor, to synthesize the collected data for the instructor, and to help the instructor interpret and respond to the data that has been collected. With this in mind, it is important that the facilitator be skilled at engaging with students in a way that elicits a breadth of opinions and perspectives. It is also best if they are an experienced instructor with an understanding of effective teaching practices.

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Inviting a colleague into your class to discuss your course with your students can provide you with a robust set of information, allowing you to identify specific areas for change or adaptation in your course. Additional benefits from gathering and responding to feedback from students using this process early in the course include the following:

• students become empowered as partners in their learning experience,
• students begin to calibrate their perceptions and expectations with those of their peers,
• the instructor gains insight into student perceptions of their teaching,
• the instructor is able to incorporate changes during the semester, when it will benefit current students,
• student ratings of instructor and course effectiveness may improve.

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Focus groups require 20-25 minutes of class time at either the beginning or the end of the class. It is also useful for the facilitator to observe some portion of the class ahead of time, so she has some context for understanding student comments. In addition, it is important for you and your teaching assistants to leave the room during the facilitated conversation.

Introduction: After you and your teaching assistants have left, the facilitator will introduce him or herself and the process, prompt students to form groups, and distribute worksheets. The facilitator will also explain to student that their comments will be anonymous.

Small Group Discussion: Students will work in groups of 3-5 to record discussion points on worksheets. Worksheets are typically formatted to gather responses from students about strengths in the class (e.g., what is helping you learn?) and suggestions to improve student learning. Worksheets can also be tailored for more targeted feedback, but responses to more general questions typically generate more robust and useful feedback.

Large Group Discussion: The facilitator next engages the whole class in a discussion of the most important points students came up with in their small groups. This provides an opportunity for the facilitator to clarify student comments, gather concrete suggestions, and determine the extent of consensus among students. This also helps students calibrate their own perceptions and expectations to those of their peers.

Wrap-Up: The facilitator wraps up the discussion, collects worksheets, thanks students, and lets students know they will be discussing the feedback (anonymously) with you -- ideally before your next class meeting.

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• Cohen, P.A. (1980). Effectiveness of Student-Rating Feedback for Improving College Instruction: A Meta-Analysis of Findings. Research in Higher Education. 13(4): 321-341.
• Hurney, Carol A., Nancy L. Harris, Samantha C. Bates Prins, and S.E. Kruck (2014). The Impact of a Learner-Centered, Mid-Semester Course Evaluation on Students. Journal of Faculty Development. 28(3): 55-62.
• Keutzer, Carolin (1993). Midterm Evaluation of Teaching Provides Helpful Feedback to Instructors. Teaching of Psychology. 20(4): 238-240.
• McGowan, Whitney Ransom and Osgathorpe, Russell T. (2011). Student and Faculty Perception of Midcourse Evaluation. To Improve the Academy. 29: 160-172.
• Nelms, Gerald (2015). Small Group Instructional Diagnosis. Chapter 5 in Assessing The Teaching of Writing, edited by Amy E. Dayton. USA: University Press of Colorado.

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