23 Asking students for their feedback

We encourage you to establish anonymous informal and formal procedures to receive feedback on student learning and course climate to help assess the success of your course. These procedures invite your students into the learning process and can help mitigate student resistance to active learning strategies, promote reflection on learning, and prevent difficult situations. Check in at various points during the semester. For instance, students could complete an inventory during the first week of class and a survey to reflect on what they have learned and to share their suggestions and reflections in the middle of the semester. Another way to gather information is to poll your students. Based on your objectives and context, you can start a new unit or class with an entry ticket, include a minute paper activity to prompt student reflection on their previous learning experience and background knowledge, or end a class with an exit ticket to receive their feedback on activities, climate, or understanding of new material.

Consider collecting feedback anonymously through Qualtrics, ICON surveys, index cards, or sheets of paper. Here are some potential prompts:

• What aspects of this course are causing undue stress?
• What changes could I/the instructor make to improve the learning environment?
• What makes class participation easy or challenging for you?
• What has been the most effective and educative activity in this unit?
• Did anything confuse you during today’s class? If so, write it as a question or two.

It is important to ask students questions about their learning rather than about your teaching. Use students’ feedback to adjust your teaching plans and share with your students some things you learned and how that information will affect the course and your pedagogical strategies. You may choose to take student suggestions as offered, or it may be more appropriate to follow up on student concerns in another way, such as clarifying the purpose of an assignment. You might find out that a tedious step you are taking is actually not impactful and be relieved to let it go, or you might discover that something you are doing is extremely helpful and you can be more intentional about continuing it. In any case, students appreciate an opportunity to reflect and express themselves in a way that impacts their learning in the course.

We, at the Center for Teaching, can help you draft tailored questions and plan for potential actionable responses to student feedback. You can also request our Classroom Assessments by Student Interview (CLASSI) service to gather midsemester feedback from your students.

Mid-semester presents an opportunity to review classroom community guidelines, reflect on group processes, and edit or add new agreements through group discussions, personal reflections,  social annotation tools or interactive whiteboard activities.

The rose-thorn-bud activity is another way to check in with your students about their learning or a larger assignment. In small groups, each student shares: 

• a rose – something that is going well, something that they are proud of, something “blossoming” or “blooming;”
• a thorn – a question, a doubt, a distant goal;
• a bud – something they are excited about or something they are looking forward to knowing more about.

After working in small groups, students report back to the class.

To learn more ideas on gathering students’ feedback, check this resource and our chapter Learning about your students’ accessibility needs from the UDL Guide.

💡 Please reflect:

Think of the course you are teaching or planning to teach. At what points during the semester would it make sense to gather informal feedback on learning and teaching? What strategy of gathering students’ feedback would be appropriate for your context?