Getting feedback from students in a formative assessment

The term “formative assessment” often means just regular assessment of student learning that you conduct during the course of a class to provide both you and the student feedback on how well they are mastering course content. But the term also refers to getting feedback from students on how well the course is working for them.The point of such a formative assessment is to give you constructive feedback on your course while there is still time to make changes to it or how you are interacting with students. When the end-of-course evaluation is completed, it is too late to make changes for the students in that semester.

A formative assessment can be really simple: “What is working and what is not working for you in this course?” Or, you can ask much more specific questions about assignments, communication, technical issues, or anything you think might be an issue in your course. Again, the purpose of this formative assessment is to allow you to change things that are not working—if you conclude that they are not—before it is too late for your current students.

Some find a question directed specifically at what is not working most useful, such as “What part of this course is not working for you?” or “What would you like to see changed about this course?” When you ask such questions, you are not obligated to make the change, but if you hear a common complaint from your students about some aspect of your course, it may mean you either need to make a change or communicate with them differently about that issue. Either way, it is useful information to have early on.

Another type of question some faculty find useful is to ask students about their effort in the class so far. “How much of the assigned readings are you completing each week,” or “how much time are you giving to homework on average?” Answers to these questions can inform instructors about the need to address these kinds of issues rather than make changes to the course content.

It is also important to respond in some way to a common grumble. Even if you disagree with students about the issue, tell them you heard them. In a news post for example, you might explain that you understand their concern, but the course component needs to stay how it is for this reason.

Like the course evaluations at the end of the semester, formative assessments are most useful if they are completed anonymously. The survey tool in GeorgiaVIEW, located under More Tools in the toolbar, will allow you to administer the survey anonymously. 


Some examples

Here is a longer example:
Example in SurveyMonkey

Three short examples:
Midterm Teaching Survey

A Gallery of Student-Feedback Questions from Harvard.