So you polled your class during the middle of the semester, what do you do now? Your actions will obviously be based on the questions you asked and how they were answered, but here are some tips for common questions.
Time on Task
If students report that they are spending too little or too much time in your class, you can make a few adjustments for the rest of the semester. This kind of student experience might come back as feedback in terms of students feeling either overwhelmed or bored.
If students report they are spending too little time – you can add in some relevant, timely resources such as news articles and videos that relate to your learning outcomes and will provide some context for students.
If students report they are spending too much time – review your readings and activities to ensure they are directly aligned to learning outcomes.
Remove any “extra” content that does not provide a unique perspective.
Remove duplicate assignments that assess the same learning outcome.
Review assignment requirements and lessen any that you can (word counts, reference requirements, number of problems, number of slides, etc.)
Provide more time for larger assignments, if possible.
Provide a list of references, instead of asking students to find references, if applicable.
Engagement
If one of the themes that emerges is that students are not feeling engaged, you can:
Encourage group work. Providing students the opportunity to work in groups can help them feel connected and engaged.
Provide opportunities for students to work with varying technologies. Sometimes the addition of new technologies can spark engagement. Don’t select a technology that takes too long to learn, or is complicated, but simple collaborative tools, online flashcards, videos, and content curation software can be engaging. A few examples are below.
InSpace is an online collaboration tool that can be used for breakout rooms, content sharing, and private conversations.
Diigo is an online curation application that allows faculty to curate content for the class, or students can curate online content for projects.
Voicethread is an online video collaboration tool. Students and faculty can create a video commentary of another student’s assignment. Groups of students can create one, integrated video from a distance with minimal editing.
Allow for student choice in assignments. If you typically require a paper, instead allow students to choose from submitting a paper, a poster, a video, or a presentation. For grading, ensure that the same content is required for each, but students often respond well to being able to choose their submission option. The key to allowing for student choice is ensuring that you are assessing the essential learning outcomes for the assignment and are using similar frameworks. If the main outcome is “synthesize information” then a student could do this in a 4-page paper or through an 8-minute video (if someone were reading that 4-page paper, it would take about 8 minutes; the assignment length is therefore relatively equal.).
Relevance
If students report that they are unsure of how this content will help them, you can:
Provide them with videos of experts talking about the content.
Share a list of careers and majors that require the knowledge you are teaching.
Remind students of every-day uses for the content.
Teacher Interaction and Feedback
Some of the questions you ask will focus on your involvement in the class. If students report that they are not happy with your performance, you can:
Try to be more engaged in class. This is often not a complaint for in-person classes but is often one for online classes. If you are teaching online and your students report that you are not engaged, you can:
Set synchronous office hours once or twice per week, where you are there, on camera, ready to talk or answer any questions.
Post weekly videos introducing the content for the week or unit
Post to discussion forums regularly, sharing your insights
Provide thorough and timely feedback on assignments.
Feedback should be actionable. Instead of just saying that something is wrong, provide constructive feedback that students can use to change for next time.
Feedback should be provided soon enough for students to adjust their next assignment.
If you are overwhelmed with work, and it is too time-consuming for constructive feedback, consider lessening the student load by reducing the number or length of assignments.
Learning Outcomes
If there is a theme that learning activities do not support the learning outcomes, you should review the outcomes and the assignments to ensure they are aligned. For example, if the purpose of the assignment is to assess a student’s clarity of writing, then is it important that students also demonstrate their ability to find 3 outside sources for the essay? Locating sources is a research skill, not a writing skill. To the student, the research might seem like busy work because the assignment does not really reflect the learning outcome.
For help with any of these, or for help with the mid-semester reviews, please reach out to the instructional design team.