Designing a Feedback Questionnaire
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A Brief Overview of Classroom Assessment Techniques |
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Faculty, and for that matter students, need effective ways of monitoring learning throughout the semester. Although individual instructors often do invent, discover, or simply stumble upon a strategy that works, these informal and often serendipitous discoveries rarely become a matter of public record. Some years ago, however, Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross compiled a volume, Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers (1993), which contains an assortment of strategies faculty across the country have used to shed light on the mysteries of what goes on in the mind of the learner. What follows is a brief description of the four strategies that have especially broad utility.
As you read them, consider which might have potential for a course you are teaching. Why? What do you think you might learn by using this technique? In what ways, if any, would it need to be adapted to your specific purposes? How do you think the feedback you receive will be useful to you? Analyzing and using the feedback is crucial.
Background Knowledge Probes are simple questionnaires that ask students to report on relevant aspects of their background and any knowledge they may already have about a particular subject. They can be used at the beginning of a course, at the start of a new unit or lesson, or prior to introducing an important new topic. A variant of these probes is the Misconception/Preconception Check, which focuses directly on those kinds of prior knowledge (or beliefs) that actively hinder learning. This technique can be particularly useful in courses dealing with controversial or sensitive issues, or those in which students may have developed intuitive but inaccurate theories about the subject matter.
The Minute Paper is a quick and extremely easy way to collect written feedback on what students have learned during a particular interval. If used to measure learning at the end of a class session, the instructor simply stops class two or three minutes early and asks students to respond briefly to the following two questions: "What was the most important thing you learned during this class" and "What important question(s) remain unanswered for you?" Despite their simplicity, minute papers actually do more than merely assess recall. In fact, they can actually increase learning since in order to select and report the most significant information; learners must evaluate what they recall. Repeated use of minute papers can often help students learn to focus more effectively during lectures. A variation of the minute paper is sometimes called the muddiest point, which as its name suggests directs students to describe what was most confusing about a particular lesson or topic.
Documented problems are a natural extension of the common directive to "show your work." With this exercise students are asked to 1) show their work and 2) show the reasoning behind that work. Documentation of a problem can be something as simple as a brief paragraph or two of what was done (and why) or even as detailed as a line-by-line report of each step in a mathematical proof. Having students write out the reasoning behind each step of a problem not only gives the teacher very detailed feedback but it also gives students the opportunity to assess how well they understand a particular type of problem.
Analyzing the Feedback You Get:
Before you look at the feedback, it is useful to reflect briefly on how you anticipate students will respond to the questions you have decided to ask. In fact, you may even fill out a questionnaire yourself. What are your own reactions to the class thus far? And why? This process of self-reflection may help put things in perspective. It may also give you a sense of how accurately you are "reading" the class. As you begin to look at the student responses, try to first get an overview of what students have said. Don't be misled by one or two extreme responses or to become obsessed with a few less than positive comments. Outliers deserve critical attention, but don't fixate on them. Rather, try to determine how representative they really are. A good first step is to tally all of the responses so that you can see the big picture. Once you've done so, ask yourself the following questions:
* Is the overall impression positive or negative? Is this what you expected?
- Are there patterns in the responses?
- Which responses stand out? Why? How representative are they?
- What are the relative proportions of students giving a particular response?
- Are any of the responses surprising to you?
* What do you do in the classroom that might account for the responses?
* What are you doing right? What could be improved?
* What new understanding/insights have you gained about your teaching?
* What one aspect of your teaching do you want to focus on for improvement?
* What additional feedback, if any, do you need?
Sampler of Feedback Questionnaires
Background Knowledge Probe
1. Have you ever designed a questionnaire specifically to collect feedback from your students about specific aspects of your teaching or their learning processes?
- YES / NO
- If yes, please describe.
2. What is a minute paper?
3. Have you ever used one?
- YES / NO
- IF YES, what was the result?
4. What other kinds of information about your teaching and/or student learning (and thus by corollary your teaching) do you already have?
Student Analysis Of Performance on First Exam*
Fill this form out and hand it in to me this week. In return for your handing it in by the end of the week, your lowest quiz score will be discarded when your average is computed during the rest of the semester.
Name: ___________________________________________
Section (1 or 2): _________
Study Habits: Estimate how many hours a week you spend studying for this course outside of class. (Include the time you spend doing homework.) Describe how you typically spend the time. What form of studying do you find helps you the most (for example, studying the text, working practice problems, talking to other students, etc.)? If your exam score was at least 70%, you can stop after you answer this question; otherwise, complete the rest of the form.
Performance on Exam: Analyze what prevented you from making a higher score on this exam. Consider the following possible factors as well as any others appropriate to your case: inadequate background knowledge, inadequate understanding of concepts, misinterpretation of questions on the exam, poor mental condition due to physical or emotional stress.
Preparation for This Exam: Analyze your readiness of this exam. Consider whether you spent adequate time learning the material and whether that time was spread out wisely. Consider whether you were studying effectively, achieving understanding rather than just going through the motions. Consider whether you went to office hours or spoke to other students for help.
Preparation for Next Exam: Indicate what you plan to do differently in order to do better on the next exam.
*Excerpted from John Lowe's Assessment that Promotes Learning.
Designing a Feedback Questionnaire
1. Think of a course you are presently teaching. What unanswered questions do you have about student learning in that course?
2. Which of the strategies discussed today might you use?
3. What questions would you like to ask?
4. What will you do with the data? How will you share it with your students?