On April 16, 2023, the ability to personalize questions for online course questionnaires closes https://kb.iu.edu/d/bfcg. The University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Teaching and Learning offers the following best practices in forming customized questions:
Writing questions that focus on one thing only. For example, a bad question would be “How useful were the instructional materials and activities for this course?” This question asks about two things (materials and activities). Focusing on the one thing that is most pressing to you will garner clearer feedback.
Avoiding questions that suggest their answers. Yes/no questions can often be leading questions. For example, a bad question would be “Did you learn a great amount from this course?” A better question would be “To what extent do you feel you mastered the content in this course?” This allows students to use a scale to indicate their learning, rather than simply saying they learned or did not learn a great amount from the course.
Focus on relevant and actionable concepts. Students may receive up to 150 questions across their courses in a sample semester of five courses. Making sure that questions are relevant will increase students’ likelihood of answering them.
In Breyana Baykatar’s Tips for Teaching professor blog, she mentions other opportunities for reflection can be questions at the end of the final exam, such as:
- Did you give your best effort this semester? Why or why not?
- Were the strategies, skills and procedures you used effective for this course?
- What are some things you did really well this semester?
- If you could do this course over, what would you do differently?
- What class activities or assignments helped you learn the most?
- What did you learn this semester, and is it important?
- What do you think you’ll remember most about this class in 10 years?
Related Resources:
Becoming A Critically Reflective Teacher: https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/17047648
Upcoming Event
Trauma & Resilience in Higher Education Conference
When: April 26, 2023
8:30 am – 4:30 pm EST
Where: Virtual Event
This one-day virtual live conference explores how every encounter area—from pedagogy to campus safety, advising to financial aid, facilities to college policies and administration— can be informed by recognizing the prevalence of trauma, adversity, and toxic stress and how these impact academic outcomes. Trauma-informed education describes a perspective or lens through which practices and services are evaluated in view of lived experience, basic neurobiology, as well as research and findings on the power of resilience behaviors and interventions to build progressive, positive outcomes.
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