Do you ever notice that a large percentage of students are having a hard time grasping a concept or following procedures properly? It might be time to send out a quick survey to figure out what’s going on. Soliciting student feedback to gain an understanding of where students are coming from can help you hone your teaching to make the maximum impact.
Just ask! Sometimes you must ask the right question to get the conversation started. An example of a great prompt for student feedback is to ask students to share “The one thing I wish I had known before I took this course is...” Replies to this prompt are exactly the kind of information that can help you address misunderstandings or clear up poor instructions or explanations.
Don’t wait for formal evaluations to find out what your students are thinking and how they feel. A recent study by Jonas Flodén (2017) notes that “Student feedback pushes teaching choices … toward more student-teacher interaction” (Discussion section, para. 3). Findings like this illustrate the demand for more connection.
