Soliciting Feedback

All right, friends...it's time to have a hard conversation. Some of us are concerned about what students think of our classes, and of our teaching. Some of us worry about whether students are learning. Some of us even think about whether there are things we should perhaps change about our teaching practices to ensure students are learning.

I hope that my slight tongue-in-cheek tone is coming through: I actually think it's really important to understand what students think about our teaching. In some sense, they are the best equipped to give us feedback on our teaching, because they are the ones it directly impacts, and they are the ones who are there on a day-to-day basis experiencing our teaching! True, they might not be experts in our content in the same way that we are...but they do have a lot of experience as learners. 

So...why not ask them to share their experiences as students in your class?

(Okay, that last question was rhetorical...but check your own mental answer to that question. If you don't want to ask them to share their experiences...why is that? Is it because you don't actually want to hear the answer to the question? If so...I hope this nudges a little introspection for you.)

Going back to my early years as a middle school science teacher around 2001, I have regularly solicited feedback from my students. I have learned a lot about myself as a teacher, just by asking students for their insights, and this is true of all the different age groups I've asked: middle schoolers, undergrads, grad students, and teachers in professional development sessions I've led. I try to frame it this way for them: "You are uniquely qualified to share things with me about your experience as a learner in this class, because you are a learner in this class. I want to get better as a teacher, and you sharing about your experience as a learner helps me reflect on what I should keep doing, and think about things I should perhaps stop doing as well."

But here's the thing: if you're going to ask for feedback, you have to be willing to do two things:

1. You have to be willing to hear the good stuff, the not-so-good stuff, and the ambivalent stuff. (You'll almost always get some of each of these, if you ask.)
2. You have to be willing to at least consider the feedback you're soliciting as information about things you should perhaps change about your teaching. (And this might take some thick skin.)

I do like what this models for students though. I regularly give students feedback on their work, and expect them to make changes based on my comments and critique. Asking students for their feedback on my work and being willing to consider making changes makes for a healthy, reciprocally-respectful environment, I think.

So in that light, here are a couple of things I do in my online courses to solicit feedback:

• I typically make the feedbacking opportunities anonymous so students will feel more okay with telling me the "bad stuff" especially. We have to recognize that there is a power difference between students and teachers that will always exist, though it can be minimized in some ways. Some students will never offer critique if they feel it could come back to hurt them in the end.
• That said, I often do invite students to share their names if they feel comfortable doing so. It is rare that I have students take me up on this--I've found it most common among grad students, then middle school students, and then undergrad students--but when they do, I always find it impressive that they are willing to stand by their words.
• I like online surveys (I typically use Google Forms) to collect their feedback. They are easy to build, easy to share, and easy to explore the resulting data.
• A friendly reminder: survey fatigue is a real thing, and so asking students to complete multiple surveys should be carefully considered!
• I typically ask for feedback around 3-4 weeks into the term (so we are far enough in to a course that they have a sense of what the course is like, but still early enough for me to make changes if warranted.) I also always ask for feedback at the end of the course. Other than this, I very selectively survey students based on specific things I'm changing or trying. For example, if I try something wildly different in the way I'm facilitating a discussion, or if I create a brand new assignment, I might really benefit from hearing students' thoughts on how it went so I can make adjustments for the future.

Here's an example survey I use in my Teaching and Learning with Technology course that I teach at the graduate level. I usually send it to student 4 weeks into the term to get a sense of how the course is working: EDUC 508 Feedback Survey. It includes several course-specific questions, but you'll notice that many of the questions are more general-purpose questions that help me understand how students are perceiving the course.

Another approach I really like that I've used several times is "2 Questions, 2 Minutes." My colleague, Tim Van Soelen, mentioned this one to me a year or so ago, and I've found it to be a can't-miss approach for getting feedback from students. How does it work? I build a Google Form that has just two questions, and I tell students that it should only take them two minutes. (And I usually get about 90% participation this way!) The two questions? Here you go:

• "What should I keep doing that is helping you learn?"
• "What should I STOP doing that is not helping you learn?"

Two simple questions that get right to the heart of the issue! And then...plenty of food for thought about what I should keep doing...and stop doing.

I hope you'll take this encouragement to ask your students about their experience in your class. It can be uncomfortable to humble ourselves to actually ask how we're doing. However, if we're serious about continuing to get better as instructors, I think it's worth asking!

Image by Jon Tyson (modified) via Unsplash

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(This post is part of a series offering tips on distance teaching. You can read more about this project here: Distance Teaching Tips. You can also read all of the posts in this series here: Distance Teaching Tips Series.)