Developing Yourself, Supporting Learners: Collecting and Providing Student Feedback

1. Developing Yourself, Supporting Learners: Collecting and Providing Student Feedback TA conference Thursday, September 10, 2009

2. Questions, Questions • On the yellow cue card, jot down a question you have about collecting and responding to feedback that you would like answered during this session (or if not all can be answered, after the session via email).

3. Agenda • My first feedback experience! • GETFAST – what do you need to know • Getting started – key questions • Considerations • Types of Feedback Tools • Resources and References

4. APGAR Score: My First Test How did I do?! Jeanette McDonald, 2 months

5. APGAR Score Source: http://www.childbirth.org/articles/apgar.html

6. Purpose of APGAR Score Encompasses Sound Assessment • establishes a benchmark • identifies strengths and weaknesses • calls for action • measures the impact of action Source: Marini & Violato, 2000

7. GETFAST • Quick and easy to set-up • Available online 24/7 • Question bank of 300+ questions in across 25+ categories • Ask up to 20 questions at a time • http://getfast.ca (Canadian)

8. Getting Started: Questions to Ask • What do you want to assess? • What kind of feedback do you want to collect? • How do you intend to use the feedback? • How often do you want to collect feedback? • From whom do you want feedback? • Feedback goals ? (meet WIN & WIL)

9. What can students report on? • their learning and learning needs • low inference teaching behaviours (i.e., specific observable teaching behaviours) • their classroom experience

10. TBI findings (Murray, 1983/1997) • what constitutes effective teaching – fairy consistent across discipline • low, average and high rated instructors teach differently (clarity, enthusiasm, rapport, interaction) • enthusiasm/expressiveness can facilitate student attentiveness and information processing (from receiving to recall, especially with clear explanations)

11. Limitations of Student Feedback • HALO Effect - rater first impression colours ranking (positively or negatively) • Error of Central Tendency- rater avoidance of ranking extremes (e.g., very high/very low); limited variance

12. Research Insights • more challenging courses are rated better than easy courses – BUT! • teacher personality can positively impact ratings – BUT!

13. Suggestions • collect feedback early and often • choose a multi-pronged approach • supplement end-of-term rating forms

14. Select Tools • START-STOP-CONTINUE • One Minute Paper • Student Liaisons (committee/individual) • Comment Box • Dear Professor Letter • Basketball Questions • Classroom/Tutorial/Lab Observation • M/C Question Generation • Teaching Journal

15. Educational Development Serviceswww.wlu.ca/edev > services • consultation on developing an evaluation plan • design assistance on feedback tools • implementation of the teaching behaviours inventory (in whole or in part) • implementation of the SGID (small group instructional diagnosis) • classroom observation and report • videotaping of classroom and viewing guidelines

16. References • ---- Overview of Student Ratings: Values and Limitations, The IDEA Center. Accessed: October 4, 2006. http://www.idea.ksu.edu/StudentRatings/value-limitations.html • Chickering, A. & Gamson, Z. (1987). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. American Association of Higher Education Bulletin, 4 (7), 3-7. • Davis, B. (1993). Tools for Teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. • Farquharson, A. (1995). Teaching in Practice: How Professionals Can Work Effectively with Clients, Patients and Colleagues. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. • Erdle, S. & Murray, H. (1986). Interfaculty differences in classroom teaching behaviours and their relationship to student instructional ratings. Research in Higher Education, 24, 115-127. • McKeachie, W. (2002). Teaching Tips: strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers. (11th edition). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. • Murray, H. (1983a). Low-inference classroom teaching behaviours and student ratings of college teaching effectiveness. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 138-149. • Murray, H. (1983b). Low-inference teaching behaviours related to college teaching effectiveness. In J. G. Donald (ed.) Proceedings of the Conference on the Evaluation and Improvement of University Teaching: The Canadian Experience. Montreal: Centre for Teaching and Learning Services, McGill University. • Murray, H. (1997). Effective teaching behaviours in the college classroom. In Effective Teaching in Higher Education. New York: Agathon Press.

17. Resources • FAST – Free Assessment Summary Tool (online survey tool; easy to use; create your own or use database questions; data can be aggregated; and more) http://getfast.ca • Student Ratings of Teaching: The Research Revisitedhttp://www.idea.ksu.edu/resources/index.html • Evaluating [Y]our Teaching: An Introductory Guidehttp://cubic.wlu.ca/documents/15432/Evaluation_of_Teaching.pdf(short module: developing an evaluation plan; feedback tools; guidelines and more) • Classroom Assessment Techniques http://www.siue.edu/~deder/assess/catmain.html(quick and easy assessment tools for collecting data on student learning) • Fast Feedback (chapter from Tools for Teaching – ideas and considerations)http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/feedback.html • Tools for Reflecting on Your Teaching (feedback tools; data from students, peers, self) http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infotrac/tips/toolsforreflectingonteaching.pdf • The Teaching Professor newsletterhttp://www.magnapubs.com/subscribe/magnapubs_tp.html • Teaching Goals Inventory (60-item inventory for feedback on your teaching)http://cubic.wlu.ca/page.php?grp_id=333&p=3335