End of Course Feedback: Identifying Actionable Strategies from Student Comments

End of Course Feedback: Identifying Actionable Strategies from Student Comments

Posted on by CIS Staff
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Author: Sarah S. Learman, Ph.D. – Office of Curriculum and Instructional Support

 

“I see a brown envelope with a printed label in my mailbox. My heart drops. It’s at least six weeks since I finished teaching. This can only be my course evaluation forms [CEFs]. I take the envelope and leave it unopened on my desk, for days, sometimes for weeks, plucking up the courage to open it” (Hoben et al., 2020).

 

Reviewing end-of-course student feedback can be a challenging process. The dynamic and personal nature of the teaching, combined with the contextual variables that influence student perceptions of the learning experiences we create, can make it difficult to parse out actionable ideas from survey data objectively. That said, the feedback we collect from our students via end-of-course opinion surveys can also be helpful. The key to getting the most out of your student survey results is approaching the process with a purpose. Here, we offer the following advice and resources to help you harness this purpose and process your student feedback most effectively.

 

Keep your goals and boundaries in mind.

Before you read, identify your goals. What do you want to learn from student opinion feedback? What are you willing to do with the outcomes? What are you willing to change in your course, and what are your dealbreakers? The answers to these questions will direct your purpose (see above) and should be at the forefront of your mind as you work through student opinion data. “Listing specific, measurable goals in writing at the start of the process helped us focus on what we wanted to accomplish in teaching and what information in the evaluations told us about whether we achieved the goals” (Malouff et al., 2015).

 

Take notes as you read, identifying themes (positive and negative).

As objectively as possible (see below), with your goal(s) in mind (see above), jot down any recurring comments or themes that come up. Make a list of things you’d like to remember from student feedback and perhaps what you might do differently in a future iteration of the course. Be sure to identify positive themes as well as areas for improvement. “What positive student comments about the course or your teaching in the current evaluations seem important? Categorize the content by theme. Look especially at themes mentioned by a significant percentage (say, 10%) of responding students” (Malouff et al., 2015). Keeping such a log to document the student experience can make moving forward from reading to action clearer. Taking notes also creates space between the raw student feedback and the actionable tasks that you pull from their comments, allowing more objectivity moving forward. In other words, once your list is generated, you shouldn’t have to go back to the original student comments again.

 

Reflect on constructive comments and release the unhelpful ones.

In approaching our results, it is important to recognize that the nature of end-of-course questionnaires, or any survey seeking candid feedback, allows for a wide range of responses, including constructive, conflicting, unrelated, or unhelpful comments. Schneider et al. (2020) note that it is natural for faculty to experience ambivalence toward reading student feedback, particularly conflicting results, where some students respond positively to a course element, and others respond negatively (as cited in Holme, 2021). In fact, experiencing the mixture of emotions associated with divergent student feedback positions instructors to make actionable changes based on the feedback, allowing both the faculty and future students to benefit from the process (Holme, 2021).

 

While some strategies can be implemented to reduce unrelated or unproductive responses (for example, talking with students about the kind of helpful feedback you are looking for before they complete the survey), such comments are fairly common and often frustrating. When it comes to unhelpful or negative survey results, Gayeski et al. (2022) recommend that faculty not let anonymous student feedback destroy confidence or innovation and instead “take some comments with a grain of salt, narrowing in on the feedback that is most productive and adjusting accordingly” (Gayeski et al., 2022). The challenge is which comments to build actionable change from and which to let go of. If your practices are built on sound pedagogy (see below) or if the commenter didn’t demonstrate knowledge of experience in the course (e.g., My students said I wasn’t available, but I announced my office hours at the start of every class!), it is probably reasonable to put less emphasis on these, compared to comments that speak to more potentially legitimate or modifiable aspects.

 

Instead of focusing on the negative or problems identified, reflect on these comments from a place of humility and see how this might inform your next steps. This is one of the hardest parts of teaching. Such humble reflection on student feedback compels us to ask ourselves, “‘What am I doing that’s causing students to view my teaching this way?’ Such questions need to lead us to specific, concrete behaviors—things teachers are or aren’t doing” (Weimer, 2017). Weimer (2018) recommends reviewing the comments as objectively as possible to identify actionable changes from hard-to-read data: “Step back. For the moment, let it go and move on to something else. Read every positive comment three times and smile. Look again later, but with objectivity. How many negative comments were there versus no comments and positive ones? Try deleting the emotional language in the comment. Make it sound like constructive feedback, and then consider what happened in the course that might have generated the response. Does the student have a point?” (para. 7).

 

Link your pedagogy to your practices.

Think about your course, the design, the experience, and the learning activities. Then, as elements of your course and your teaching practice pop up in student comments, ask yourself, where’s the pedagogy behind my practice? If there is a teaching-and-learning-based rationale for why you do something that you do, factor that in while you read student comments. If there isn’t a pedagogical basis behind an aspect of your course, these aspects might benefit from further scrutiny, particularly if your students are bringing concerns to your attention or offering representative feedback.

 

Implement changes strategically.

After you read your stack of student opinion surveys, you might have many actionable items to consider, or only a few. Either way, approach these strategically: prioritize and avoid taking on too much. Consider the workload involved and the pros and cons of changing your course before you make it. Also, first consider solutions or changes that would be the most straightforward to implement or would speak to multiple themes in the feedback, if possible.

 

Get support from a trusted peer.

The literature consistently demonstrates the benefits of peer and colleague support in faculty success and well-being. The area of navigating student feedback is no exception (Malouff et al., 2015; Weimer, 2018; Hoben et al., 2020). Such support enhances the instructor’s experience processing the results (making it more positive) and helps identify and carry out productive next steps in their course planning (Malouff et al., 2015). Additionally, “sharing experiences as a means of creating a counter-discourse and spaces of renewal and hope…and engaging with [end-of-course survey data] collectively shifts us away from a blame-culture and fosters individual shame resilience. In this collective space, it is easier to move towards useful conversations” (Hoben et al., 2020). Weimer (2018) advocates similarly, “Talk to a trusted colleague. Yes, you can start the conversation by venting. Then ask the colleague to help you put the student’s comment into perspective. Ask how they’d interpret the comment. Ask if they think changes are in order. Ask if they have any good ideas that prevent over-reacting to negative comments” (para. 9). Finally, if you notice trends in student comments that you want help to implement, or if you’d like assistance interpreting and processing student feedback, Teaching and Learning Consultants in the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Support are here to help. Our non-evaluative, confidential services range from a one-on-one conversation to targeted troubleshooting and assistance in developing or modifying course materials. We’re here to help; email us at CIS@cmich.edu for a consultation.

 

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