This information focusses on preparing to hold mid-semester feedback opportunities and submit mid-term grades. Check out our Spring 2024 mid-term grades teaching tips for more information about the purpose of mid-term grades and how to discuss them with your students.
- Purpose of mid-semester feedback. We are all used to receiving some end-of-course feedback from students, but why wait until then to hear what they have to say? The Center for Teaching and Learning at DePaul University suggests several strategies for soliciting student feedback midsemester, like exit tickets and surveys, which could be helpful in your courses as we near the halfway mark. The staff at the Faculty Learning Hub at Conestoga University also suggest an inquiry approach to providing student feedback to increase learner independence.
- Stop, start, continue. Stop, Start, Continue is an activity that you can use with students that allows them to share what isn’t working for them (things they would like to stop), what might work better for them (things they would like you to start doing) and things that are working well for them in the course (things they would like to see continue). Angela Danley, Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of Central Missouri, assigns this activity as a shared digital document for her online course. In her online post, she highlights the benefits of this strategy including its adaptability for use in multiple disciplines, anonymous submission options and the ability to look for patterns and make changes during the semester instead of at the end. This template from the Faculty Learning Hub at Conestoga University or the UTLC’s Microsoft Forms template can be used as is or as a guide to create your own document.
- An inquiry approach to feedback. Feedback is often ineffective when it is vague or brief and works best when students have time to reflect upon and refine their learning. When we provide effective feedback, we explicitly tell students what they are doing well and identify misconceptions or gaps in their understanding. This helps motivate them to be independent learners with increased self-awareness. “In inquiry-based learning,” Ada Sharpe, Assessment of Learning Consultant says, the “professor and student are partners in creating the conditions for learning, but the student leads their own learning. Students drive their acquisition of skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Presented with problems and tasks, the student must identify their learning needs, pursue their curiosity, and take responsibility for their learning process.” To learn more, read Dr. Sharpe’s article and view the list of discussion prompts to support this approach to feedback.