Mid-Semester Evaluation
Process
The Teaching Center recommends partnering with a Teaching Center staff member on mid-semester evaluations. Our staff members can meet with instructors in advance to learn how to direct student attention as they administer the questionnaire, as well as increase student confidence in anonymity. Staff can also help instructors spot patterns in responses and suggest evidence-based teaching changes to address student feedback as appropriate. Instructors can also administer mid-semester evaluations independently.
Questionnaire
The mid-semester evaluation (also known as the 'stop-start-continue') is an easy way for instructors to gather feedback about a course at the semester’s midpoint. This brief qualitative questionnaire asks students three straightforward questions:
In response to this question, students are asked to provide constructive comments about any aspect(s) of the instructor's teaching that they feel are hindering learning. This might include observations about the instructor's voice projection (or lack thereof), monotone delivery of the lecture, or slide font sizes that are too small to be read from the back of the room.
When several students make similar observations, it is safe to assume that there is a trend at play. Once this trend has been identified, it can be rectified where feasible. For instance, an instructor might start using a lapel microphone in response to student concerns about not being able to hear.
In answering this question, students have a space to suggest the kinds of teaching and teaching activities that best facilitate learning for them. For instance, they might offer something like: 'She should start using more examples to illustrate the theory' or 'It would help me if the instructor made more connections between the lecture and the work that we do in our labs.'
Put another way, this question essentially asks: 'What is your instructor doing in class that resonates with you?' The point of this question is to focus on the aspects of the instructor's current practice that students both enjoy and gain the most learning from. The answers to this question provide the instructor with some insight into what they are doing well and should therefore continue.
Evaluations
The evaluations should be totally anonymous. This prevents student concerns about potential victimization ('If I don't say something nice about the instructor, I won't get a good grade'). Anonymity—as well as the need for constructive feedback—should be made explicit by the person administering the questionnaire.
Instructors can use the results of these evaluations to adapt some of their practices while the course is still in progress.
Our Teaching Center staff are happy to review completed mid-semester evaluations to identify two or three key trends that the instructor should consider, along with suggestions about possible responses to student concerns.
Instructors can recreate our questionnaire in a software product capable of collecting anonymous response or use our paper-based form. In either case, the questionnaire should be administered with adequate time during class to get a better response rate. The following is a version of the questionnaire on the Teaching Center letterhead: mid-semester evaluation PDF.