Get the Most Out of Student Feedback

"Feedback is a vital part of any learning process, as much for instructors as for students. Your feedback is a necessary part of the process for instructors to improve their teaching."

Describe the kind of feedback you find most useful. In most cases, specific feedback with examples is more useful than general statements.

"This article is about the accurate interpretation of student ratings data and the appropriate use of that data to evaluate faculty. Its aim is to make recommendations for use and interpretation based on more than 80 years of student ratings research. As more colleges and universities use student ratings data to guide personnel decisions, it is critical that administrators and faculty evaluators have access to research-based information about their use and interpretation.

Concerns over the usefulness and validity of student ratings of instruction (SRI) have continued to grow with online processes. This paper presents seven common and persistent concerns identified and tested during the development and implementation of a revised SRI policy at a Canadian research-intensive university.