Challenge

Closing the loop (seeking feedback) is a good way of following up, checking in, and effectively dealing with any issues or concerns raised from various facets of your teaching.

This feedback elicitation process addresses the following challenges:

• How do I get the feedback that I need to enhance student engagement, when I need it?
• How do I gather this feedback quickly and efficiently without eating into my teaching time?
• How do I empower students to provide feedback on any aspect of the course?
• How do I create a culture where students feel a sense of ownership over their learning?

In short it aims to:

• Obtain timely feedback
• Immediately close the feedback loop
• Create a culture where feedback is a normal part of teaching

Approach

The feedback elicitation process:

• At the end of each lecture I ask 3 feedback questions
• Answers to questions are typed into a word document that is projected onto the screen
• Students can see what I type and that their feedback has been received
• I confirm that what I write accurately reflects the feedback by asking students to confirm my understanding
• The electronic nature of the process greatly reduces the setup and analysis time

Attached within the resources section, is a set of example questions you may like to ask your students.

Outcomes

Benefits for me:

• I get immediate feedback on the effectiveness of a teaching strategy
• I can address any content issues immediately or give a time frame
• The feedback strategy takes very little time to administer
• Students become increasingly willing to participate
• I am able to enhance student engagement by selecting the most appropriate teaching strategies in order to improve the effectiveness of the curriculum

Sample student comment:

"Sven asked for feedback on every lecture/tutorial to see if there was anything that could be done better. I think if there is something to be improved upon, he's probably already working on it."

Benefits for students:

1. Empowers students to provide regular direct feedback
2. Allows students to influence how the course is delivered
3. Feedback is acknowledged by the lecturer
4. Does not feel like a formal survey (no over-surveying)
5. Engenders in students a sense of ownership of the learning process and empowers students to take control of their own learning

The use of this approach has been instrumental in my learning and teaching development and has resulted in my being awarded the 2012 Griffith University Award for Excellence in Teaching (Griffith Sciences), and the 2017 Australasian CORE teaching award winner for innovative teaching practices that engage and involve students.

Sample student comment

"I liked how the course was somewhat adaptive in the sense that, as feedback from students was provided, the course was altered slightly.“

Enabling Technology

For this approach, a projector and computer were used. There are other forms of technology you can use for polling and seeking inclass feedback, speak to your Blended Learning Advisor or Educational Designer if you would like to learn more about options.

Implement

If you're thinking about doing this, it is a very simple process. However, it does require being able to manage student interactions in a large class setting and being willing to receive and gracefully acknowledge all feedback received in a respectful way.

Next Steps

If this is something you would like to undertake in your teaching practice, consider speaking to your Blended Learning Advisor, Educational Designer or Learning Futures about options you can introduce for feedback elicitation.

Support Resources

• Partnership-Based Learning (P1). Getting Started with VLE tools and the Course Design Standards.

  Module

• Learner-Enabling Design (P5). Getting Started with VLE tools and the Course Design Standards.

  Module

Contributed by

• Griffith Sciences
  School of Information and Communication Technology
  Dr Sven Venema
  (07) 338 21292
  s.venema@griffith.edu.au
  Griffith Experts profile
• Learning Futures
  

Preferred Citation

Venema, S. & Learning Futures (2020). Feedback elicitation: Closing the loop on a weekly cycle. Retrieved from https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/exlnt/entry/4266/view