Gather additional feedback from students

There are additional ways to gather student feedback, for example by using Google Forms, the Moodle Feedback activity, or Poll Everywhere.

Click on the tabs below to view different methods of gathering feedback from students

An exit ticket is a great way to get brief, timely feedback from students which can help you to understand what students are struggling with and where they need more support.

To be effective the feedback prompt or question should require less than 5 minutes from the student at the end of the class. Examples of general prompts include:

  • Name one important thing you learned in class today.
  • What part of the class was most difficult for you to grasp?
  • Do you have any suggestions for how today's class could have been improved?
  • Which of the readings you did for class today was most helpful in preparing you for the lesson? Why?
  • Today's lesson had three objectives (listed): How do you think these objectives were reached on a scale of 1(not reached) to 5 (successfully reached).

You can also ask for more specific feedback on particular parts of the class. This can be particularly useful if you are incorporating a new activity or teaching methodology into your class. Examples of specific prompts include:

  • One of the goals of this class is to have all participants contribute to the seminar. How well do you think this was achieved today?
  • What did you think was accomplished by the small group activity we did today?
  • We did a concept map activity in class today. Was this a useful learning activity for you? Why or why not?

How can I use google forms to create exit tickets?

By combining the exit ticket with a tool like Google Forms, this process can be effectively conducted both with face to face and online classes.

Watch the short video below to learn more about how to create an exit ticket using Google forms

Find out more about using Google Forms for student evaluation and other learning and teaching purposes.

The Feedback activity allows you to create and conduct surveys to collect feedback. Unlike the Survey tool it allows you to write your own questions, rather than choose from a list of pre-written questions and unlike the Quiz tool, you can create non-graded questions. The Feedback activity is ideal for course or teacher evaluations.

Because the feedback tool is integrated directly into Moodle, it is easy to set up regular evaluations of teaching that can occur asynchronously (outside of class time).

Watch the short video below to learn more about the Feedback tool

For more information about setting up the Feedback tool, see Feedback.

A muddiest points activity is a student learning “temperature check” that encourages reflection and helps identify areas that need further clarification.

This feedback is particularly useful directly after Own-time preparation activities, giving the educator an opportunity to provide alternative resources or explanations before proceeding with more complex concepts.

Muddiest points prompts

A muddiest point prompt should encourage reflection while guiding students to pinpoint their learning challenges, for example:

  • Take a moment to reflect on this week’s own-time lesson/discussion/topic. Briefly describe what topic or section you struggled with and any suggestions about what might help clarify it for you (e.g., another example or different explanation).
  • What questions do you have after completing the readings and preparation activities?
  • What topics or concepts did you find challenging to grasp?

Curiosity prompts

You can also ask for feedback regarding student interests and curiosity to inform future activities and resources. An example prompt could be:

  • What did you find most surprising or interesting?
  • What would you like to know more about?

How can I use Poll Everywhere to create a muddiest points activity?

By combining the muddiest point prompt with a tool like Poll Everywhere, this activity can be added as an external tool in Moodle or integrated seamlessly into PowerPoint/Google Slides.

Use the Q&A activity that combines an open response question with upvoting and downvoting. Students submit questions or ideas, then rank the questions and ideas others submit. In less than a minute, the instructor can identify top-ranked responses.

To be effective, the activity should be anonymous so that students can ask questions or post ideas without fear of embarrassment. Additionally, having responses visible to everyone normalises the idea of uncertainty and curiosity.

Find out more about using Poll Everywhere for student evaluation and other learning and teaching purposes.

Close the loop: Acting on feedback

As with any feedback, we need to be objective, reflective and critical when reading student feedback. While often we can take some measures to respond to students’ feedback, in other cases a response is not possible or may be counterproductive to learning.

Start by asking yourself some questions about the feedback:

  • Is the comment repeated by many students? If only one student mentioned it, do you think the issue is serious enough to warrant action?
  • Is there a problem with the needs and wants of the individual learner or with the overarching pedagogy? Is there a reason why the learning is set up in this way? How is this communicated to the student?
  • Are you able to act on the feedback, or is it something that needs to be implemented at a unit level? Is there a reasonable change that you can make to address the issue?
  • Would acting on this feedback improve the course for the majority of students? Are the students giving feedback representative of the whole group? From your knowledge of the cohort, whose voices might be missing?

Consider the following student comments, and using the questions above think about your possible response to the comment. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, as it always depends on the cohort, but you will see a reasoned response from a teacher.