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Evaluating teaching - Supporting your students

Helping your students see the purpose of feedback is an important aspect of seeking evaluation of teaching. Importantly, gathering feedback during the semester and explicitly acting on that feedback is one of the most effective ways of encouraging more (and more effective) feedback for end of semester SETU.

The following tips can be used in eliciting feedback to create a more conducive environment for gaining effective feedback from students.

As with anything, context is important. Before you ask your students for their feedback, explain why you’re collecting it and how it will benefit both you and them. They will appreciate the fact that you also are on a learning journey.
If you want useful feedback to create meaningful change in the classroom, you must create a welcoming environment for your students. One way for students to feel that they can express their views safely is through enabling anonymous responses. This means that students can be open with their responses.
Make sure your questions are specific. This will increase the chances of your students understanding the intent of your question, meaning you’ll get more useful feedback.
For example, “What did you think about the tutorial today?” won’t yield many useful responses. A better phrased question is: “In what ways did today’s activity challenge you?” It should be as clear as possible.
You can also encourage your students to provide feedback that is specific and includes examples, so you can also learn from the experience.
The temptation with student feedback is to ask all the questions at the midpoint of the semester. However, as your list of questions gets longer, the chance of your students thoughtfully addressing these questions decreases. Instead, you should aim for fewer questions but at more regular intervals.
Regular gathering of feedback will also provide you with an opportunity to make any changes before it’s too late. As a rule, we suggest two to three questions every few weeks. Think pulse questions, not a survey.
There’s nothing worse than providing feedback and then seeing no evidence of it being received. When you ask your students for feedback, be sure to come back to them within a few days. The most effective teachers thank their students for their feedback, and explain a few of the key themes that came through. Most importantly, they outline the things they’ll be doing more of, and the things they’ll be doing less of as a result of the feedback.
Coming back to your students is a critical step that closes the loop in your students’ mind and encourages them to provide useful feedback again in the future.

Supporting your students in giving feedback through SETU

Just as with responsive feedback, students need to understand the purpose of the feedback they are giving in SETUs for this evaluation to be useful and effective. It is important to discuss this explicitly with your students prior to the end of semester.

While the strategies above are helpful for students when completing any kind of feedback, they may also have specific questions about how to access and complete SETU, aspects of confidentiality, and how their responses will be used among others.

What resources and services are available to students

Student information on SETU

This page provides information about how to complete SETU, survey timing, confidentiality, student support and more.

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Let us know how we can improve this resource.

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