Do you wonder how your students are responding to your course this semester?
Consider administering a formative assessment to gather mid-semester feedback that you can use to improve your teaching while your course is underway. Formative assessment can help you recognize when your students are struggling and enable you to address problems in the middle of the semester.
Many instructors choose to create and administer their own surveys, student self-assessments, or feedback forms. CETL, in conjunction with OIRE, also offers you the option to have a mid-semester survey sent directly to your students. See more about the surveys here, where you may choose the appropriate survey for your course. Unlike end-of-semester student evaluations of teaching, mid-semester surveys are optional, and the results are completely confidential. You can use these formative assessments privately, or you may decide to share them with your department head, along with the resulting course modifications, and include the same in your teaching portfolio.
Results of these surveys can provide you with valuable opportunities for reflection and course improvement, and studies show that when students know that you intend to use the results to improve your course immediately, response rates are typically high and the students’ critiques are carefully thought-out.
Please request yours here no later than March 10, 2017. Contact CETL if you would like to learn more about formative assessment or arrange for consultations or classroom observations.
For more information, contact: The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at CETL@uconn.edu