Mid-Semester Feedback

By now, you may have seen information about the CFI’s Teaching Analysis Poll (TAP) program, through our Weekly Digest or a special email announcement. While the semester has only just begun, it is nevertheless a great time to plan to solicit mid-semester feedback from your students. The CFI offers TAPs for this very purpose. Participating in a TAP is an opportunity to find out how your course is going, from the students’ perspective, long before those final course evaluations roll in. 

You can request a TAP now. Visit the TAP website and click on “Request a TAP.”

Let me tell you a bit about the process. On the day of the TAP, about 30-45 minutes before the end of class, you leave the room and a facilitator (one of your faculty colleagues who has generously volunteered to do TAPs) will guide your students through small-group reflections about what is helping and hindering their learning in your course, including their own behaviors. The facilitator will then share this anonymous feedback with you during a later, private consultation. You can respond to the TAP by making strategic instructional adjustments and/or by explaining to students why certain elements of the course need to remain the same, despite their suggestions. At the very least, we encourage you to have some kind of follow-up conversation with your students about their commentary, so that they know they were heard.

Studies such as those by JMU’s very own faculty (e.g., Hurney et al.’s “The Impact of a Learner-Centered, Mid-Semester Course Evaluation on Students,” 2014) have shown that feedback opportunities like TAPs can improve students’:

• perception of instructor enthusiasm
• understanding of expectations regarding assignments and tests
• view of the course organization
• motivation
• attendance
• completion of assignments
• in-class discussions
• exam performance
• bonding and communication with instructors
• perception of the overall learning environment

You can also solicit students for mid-semester feedback on your own, either in class or online, using a survey tool like Qualtrics (for which JMU thankfully renewed its site license!) or even Canvas. Please request a CFI teaching consultation if you are interested in brainstorming how to solicit feedback on your own. We are always happy to help.