Hi Jan,
Well said. Feedback can be extremely helpful is we look at it in a big picture way and decide how we are going to improve our instruction as a result of it.
Gary
I agree it keeps the instructor on the toes.
I agree that we should consider students' feedback as a gift so we can make adjustments in our methods. The challenge sometimes is to help the students feel "safe" about giving honest feedback so they aren't afraid to give their opinions.
Hi Shamala,
Right you are. What are some ways you provide feedback to your students? Thanks in advance for your sharing of your ideas.
Gary
Student feedback is very important in teaching it gives a very clear picture of the teaching methods.
The students feedback helps you to get inside their world. Often times since I'm not in the classroom with my students, I don't have a connection to what they are going through both academically and professionally. Their feedback helps me to be on the same page as my students.
It helps to to think about your methods and presentation,students need to understand the information and it helps to know if what you are doing is working
Student feedback helps me as an instructor in several ways. First and foremost, lets me know whether the students are understanding the content of the course. This, in turn, allows me to adjust the syllabus and revisit areas where more emphasis is needed. Secondly, student feedback allows me to gauge the atmosphere of the class, to determine the students' attitudes toward the work, and to reconnect as necessary.
Dolores Kiesler
By providing feedback to your students you focus on them and their needs. Sometimes their academic needs stem from needed focus due to external circumstances outside of the classroom.
Also, providing feedback to your students provides validity for what they are doing and working on. When they feel valued and feel what they are doing matters, they can make meaningful contributions to the class.
Hi Kim,
You are right about the effectiveness of student feedback. What are the ways you go about getting feedback from your students.
Gary
Asking for student feedback is a way to initiate discussion with members of the class to make sure they are understanding the tasks at hand and to find out if there are any roadblocks to understanding the information.
Student feedback lets the instructor know if their approach to teaching is working and/or if different methods may need to be introduced to get the students back on track.
Kim H.
Hi Andrew,
Right you are. Talking may not be teaching. We need to always be reading our students so we can tell if they are being reached.
Gary
Hi Jennifer,
What I do to get feedback from my students before the class is over is to give each one of them a 3X5 card. I ask them a series of questions about the course and how they are functioning in it. They don't sign their names so they are candid in their comments. I have found they give me good feedback and I have never had a comment that was nasty or non-professional. They have been fair but accurate in their assessment of how the course is going. I then can adjust the course as needed based upon their input.
Gary
I agree Andrew and I ask for feedback a lot, so much so that I think the students begin to wonder if I am experimenting with their education. Because of that, I am always looking for new ideas on how to ask for feedback. Can you give some examples of what you use? Thanks. For that matter I am interested in anyones examples. Thank you.
Student feedback is one of those variables that needs to be constantly re approached and analyzed. You can stand infront of your class and lecture for hours a week or give hundreds of demonstrations, but that doesn't necessarily mean that your students are grasping anything that you are saying or doing. By continuously receiving student feedback, it allows you to see not only how effective your teaching technique is, but also what you may do to improve your teaching style.
The key to student feedback for me is to remain objective. I tend to read them all but do not dwell on the most positive or most negative. Taking the most positive to heart can lead to becoming satisfied, which I never am, about my performance. The flip side of that is that taking the most negative to heart can lead to wasting energy trying to figure out who made the comment and then taking the comment personally.
I can learn more about what my students like and don't like about classroom instruction. If students aren't engaged and interested, they are very quickly lost and much more likely to drop the class. Our students evaluate us at the end of each quarter, but I don't generally see those evaluations until well into the next quarter. It would be nice for them to evaluate (or at least have the option) more often.
Hi Barbara,
What a great attitude about how to use feedback as a part of your professional development. By listening to them and internalizing what they share you can expand your abilities as an instructional delivery expert.
Gary
Getting feedback from my students regardless if it is good or bad, helps motivate and push me in the right direction. I like to know how what I do effect others. I take the negative as a way to improve myself and I take the postive as a way to continue what I am doing, but just do it a little better. I like receiving feedback from my students, it really helps me.
Student feedback is a powerful teaching tool; it helps to get a feel for what the student is feeling about the course/teaching method, etc. I tend to do this orally but am now seeing that this is not real effective as it is the same students doing the talking all the time. Plus, I am sure they feel very limited in what they dare say. The note card idea is a good one that I should be doing more often; it is quick and easy. Teaching in a computer lab, I could also have my students key something and submit. This would give them the anonymity they deserve; perhaps I could combine it with some content area as well.
