Student Guidelines
Providing Constructive Feedback
Feedback is a vital part of any learning process, as much for instructors as for students here at Dalhousie. Your constructive feedback is a valuable resource for improving teaching.[1]
Standard Questions
The Student Learning Experience Questionnaire includes 7 quantitative questions and 2 qualitative comments for each instructor in the course, and 5 Student Ratings of Course Content questions. They are as followed:
7 quantitative questions (on a scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree)
STIMULATION OF LEARNING: The instructor conducted the class / clinical in such a way that I was stimulated to learn.
ORGANIZATION: The instructor organized the class / clinical well.
COMMUNICATION: The instructor communicated clearly during the class.
ENTHUSIASM: The instructor showed enthusiasm for the subject matter of the class.
FAIRNESS: The instructor used fair evaluation methods to determine grades.
FEEDBACK: The instructor provided constructive feedback (considering the class size).
CONCERN FOR LEARNING: The instructor showed genuine concern for my learning.
2 qualitative comments
1. What are one or more specific things about the course design or instruction that especially helped to support your learning?
2. What are one or more specific things about the course design or instruction that could be improved to better support your learning?
Important notes about comments:
The electronic evaluation form contains space for students to write their comments.
NOTE: Please do not write any identifying information in the text boxes as these comments are not reviewed before being sent to your instructor.
Comments:
- Will be provided to the instructors or teaching assistants, department heads, and faculty deans.
- Can be used for professor promotion and tenure, and other personnel decisions.
- Will not include any identifying information.
5 Student Ratings of Course Content questions
The following questions have been added by the Dalhousie Student Union to give students an opportunity to identify racist, sexist, homophobic, and any other oppressive content in course curricula and literature. Any feedback received will be shared confidentially with your professors. The responses to these questions will not be used for Tenure and Promotion purposes.
1. Course materials reflected a variety of diverse perspectives on the course topic(s).
2. The instructor(s) did not include materials that contained offensive or discriminatory ideas except to educate students about discrimination, oppression or educate about other existing perspectives.
3. Course materials were universally accessible.
4a. What are one or more specific things about the course content that helped create an inclusive learning environment?
4b. What are one or more specific things about the course content that could be improved to create a more inclusive learning environment?
Tips about Providing Constructive feedback
Be respectful. Derogatory comments or criticisms based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. are not appropriate in course evaluations.
You can view/download the PDF version of the student guidelines on providing constructive feedback [PDF - 131 kB].
| Keep in Mind before Completing Course Evaluations... |
|---|
Confidentiality: Your course evaluations are completely confidential, both the numerical results and written comments. No identifying information will ever be provided to your instructor.
The results: The complete results are confidential to the instructor, teaching assistants, and unit head (Chair, Director, or Dean). (Note: some aggregate results are disseminated to the Dalhousie community about overall response rates and mean scores for the institution and each Faculty, but the responses are always anonymous)
The instructor cannot see the results until 2 weeks after the final grade submission date has passed for the term.
| Considerations when Answering Course Evaluation Questions |
|---|
Questions are asked on a 5 point scale, where
- 1 = “Strongly Disagree", 2 = "Disagree", 3 = "Neutral", 4 = "Agree", and 5 = “Strongly Agree".
- Student Ratings of Course Content questions have 1 additional options: I don't know. You can choose "I don't know" if you do not know how to answer the question.
- You can choose which questions to answer; comments are strongly welcomed and encouraged.
While course and teaching quality are highly interdependent, the questions have been designed to explicitly address the course OR the instructor. Please direct your feedback appropriately.
Departmental questions are only asked once when there are multiple instructors of the same department
| Considerations when Writing Comments |
|---|
Be respectful; derogatory comments or criticisms based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. are not appropriate.
Be specific and provide examples when commenting on the course or the instructor. Speak based on your own experiences, not on behalf of your classmates.
Focus on observable behaviours of the instructor or on specific aspects of the course. Describe the situation you are commenting on. For example:
Instead of... This is more helpful: "We were really able to listen in class."
(This leaves the reader wondering what the instructor did to allow this.)
“It was great that the PowerPoint presentations were put online, that way you can follow in class and not have to worry about frantically take down notes and worry about not getting everything."
Avoid personal or emotional comments instead, describe actual incidents. For example:
Instead of... This is more helpful: "The instructor is a sarcastic loudmouth."
(This is worded more as a personal attack, rather than constructive feedback.)
"The professor is sarcastic at times during lectures, which makes learning difficult and confusing."
Describe how the instructor’s behaviour or elements of the course affect you. Describing how a situation makes you feel offers the reader a different perspective and allows the instructor to gain a better understanding of the situation.
Instead of... This is more helpful: "The exam was unfair."
(This leaves the reader wondering about what aspect of the exam is unfair.)
“I found the questions on the midterm exam fair, but I found the length of the exam unfair. I knew all the material but really struggled to finish the exam in time. I felt very stressed by the time pressure and may not have performed my best.”
Offer alternative solutions or suggestions to address your critiques of the instructor or the course, which helps the instructor when planning the course for the following year.
Example: “The instructor could make better use of the LMS to complement what happens in the classroom. In particular, it would help students’ engagement with the course if the instructor posted class materials, videos, and readings in the order of how they introduced that material in class." To help instructors improve the course and their teaching, please provide both positive and negative comments in a constructive manner. Comments should offer specific reasons for judgment. These are very helpful as they inform the instructor of what you suggest be kept or changed.[2] While comments regarding what needs to change may come more readily, it is just as helpful to remind the instructor about what went well.
If your course had Teaching Assistants, you will be given the opportunity to provide feedback to them. Please take the time to provide constructive comments about strengths and areas for improvement. Feedback early in their teaching careers will be instrumental in helping them become great teachers.
Consider area of responsibility. While the instructor clearly has influence and control over many of the factors that influence the quality of a course and the teaching, in many instances that influence is shared with the students and/or the administrators. By thinking about who is in a position to change problem areas—or maintain successful practices—it can help you frame your comments usefully. When possible, make suggestions from the student perspective as to actions that the instructor or administrators could take to help improve the situation. For instance:
Instead of... This is more helpful: "The projector in the rooms sucks.”
(This is outside the instructor’s control.)
“The fact that the projector in the room wasn’t showing the image properly had a significant impact on the students, and unfairly impacted the instructor’s ability to teach.”
Comments about the personal traits (for example, accent or apparent unfriendliness) of the instructor often elicit strong emotions and should be made with sensitivity. Focus your comments on behaviours that can be improved. Also, describe the impact on your learning—this will help the instructor improve the learning experience. For example:
Instead of... This is more helpful: "I couldn’t understand the professor.” (This does not tell the instructor why understanding was difficult.)
“The professor had an accent that was difficult to understand, and it would be helpful if they slowed down when they spoke because speaking quickly made the accent even more difficult.”
References
Ory, J. & Braskamp, L. (1981). Faculty perceptions of the quality of three types of evaluative information. Research in Higher Education, 15(3), p. 271-282.
Adapted from: Svinicki, M.D. (2001). Encouraging your students to give feedback. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 87, 17-24.
Donovan, J., Mader, C., & Shinsky, J. (2010). Constructive student feedback: Online vs. traditional course evaluations. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 9(3), p. 283-296.
Much of the content on this page has been adapted from: http://www.mcgill.ca/mercury/students/feedback#ref2