Specific Teaching Skills and Methods
Getting and Using Student Feedback
Student feedback is officially collected in the Statistics Department at the end of the quarter with the Student Evaluation of Instruction and comment forms. Though the information from these evaluations is helpful, it is only available to you after your students have already moved on. You don’t get the opportunity to make improvements with that particular class based on their needs. For this reason, many TAs gather feedback from their students throughout the quarter. In addition, at the end of the quarter, you may want more specific feedback from your students than what is asked for on the SEI. Here are some ideas on how to go about getting and using student feedback.
Throughout the Quarter
Keep in mind you are more likely to get honest feedback from students if they fill out surveys anonymously. Students worry that their comments may negatively affect their grades. Here are some ways you can solicit feedback from your students at any point in the quarter:
- During class, have students spend a few moments writing a “minute paper.” Some topic ideas for this paper are:
- A question you pose (to assess their learning).
- Their reactions to a topic (to make them think critically).
- A question they have about the material (to find out where gaps in comprehension exist).
- Their opinions on and suggestions about the days activities (to find out if it was helpful for their learning or not).
- Their opinions on the course so far (to find out what you are doing well and areas of improvement).
The first three examples should not be formally graded, but rather used as a tool to inform your teaching. The last two examples should be anonymous and used for your own information. It is also good to share some of the general results with the student to show that the activity will guide future teaching.
- Some TAs use a more structured approach to the minute paper and ask students to spend five minutes at the end of a class writing an anonymous response to these two questions: “What do you like about recitation and what am I doing well? What suggestions do you have to improve recitation and what do I need to do better?” This can be done at any time, but is generally most effective in the fourth or fifth week of the quarter so that students have a firm idea of what class will be like, but so that there is also time to implement changes.
- Stress to students that constructive criticism and specific examples will be more helpful to you than vague comments like “class is great” or “you are a bad teacher.”
- Some TAs develop short surveys asking students open-ended and Likert-scale questions about the class, teaching methods, and instructor habits. Some ideas for questions can be found using OSU’s Feedback on Your Instruction (FYI).
- You can talk informally to students before and after class about how things are going for them, what they like and don’t like, and any concerns they have.
- You can learn a lot about students’ opinions on the course by listening to them talk to each other before and after class.
Use this feedback to help you improve your teaching with your current students. You can discuss your feedback with other TAs, your lecturer, or the Department’s Education Specialists.
- A question you pose (to assess their learning).
- Their reactions to a topic (to make them think critically).
- A question they have about the material (to find out where gaps in comprehension exist).
- Their opinions on and suggestions about the days activities (to find out if it was helpful for their learning or not).
- Their opinions on the course so far (to find out what you are doing well and areas of improvement).
At the End of the Quarter