It is a good practice to calibrate your course around the mid-point of the semester. This will allow you to gauge where your students are at and make any minor adjustments to the course if needed.
- Gather mid-class feedback from your students
- Administering a mid-class evaluation is a great way to see how your class is going from a student perspective. There are several options for gathering this information.
- Create an Connect survey where you ask personalized, class specific questions. (Need help? See Create a Survey)
- Use UBC Mid-Course Feedback. For more information, see the _Instructor Resources for Mid-Course Feedback.
End of Course Facilitation
- Encourage your students to complete the online CoursEval.
- Research has shown that the biggest influence on whether a student completes an end-of-class survey is the instructor! So a note from you that encourages your students to complete the survey and that assures them that the information will be used to improve the class is important.
Have questions about the online CoursEval? See the information in Student Evaluation of Teaching ]
EXAMPLE 1: “I hope that you will be able to find about 15 minutes to complete the CoursEval, our class evaluation survey. We rely upon your anonymous feedback to guide our continuing efforts to make this class worth the time and money you (and in many cases, your employers) invest. Whether your feelings about the class are positive, negative, or mixed, please take a few minutes to let us know. A link to the CoursEval can be found on your Connect course menu.”
EXAMPLE 2: “One sure sign that the end of the semester is upon us is that the CoursEval opens tomorrow (Student Rating of Teacher’s Effectiveness). I realize that given this is a 400-level course, most of you should be familiar with the process, but in case this is news to anyone, I’ll share:
The CoursEval is anonymous, so you should feel confident in voicing your honest opinions about this class (good, bad and indifferent!). Yes, you link to it from Connect main menu, but it’s stored on a different server.
We really don’t get the results for a long time after the class is over. Many students seem apprehensive (usually only in the case of an impending negative review) that it could somehow influence their grade in the course. This is impossible because your grades will be long-since submitted before I ever see the results. And, those results are aggregated into one big report for the entire class.
They matter! Really they do! We try very hard to make sure our students are having meaningful and pleasant experiences in each course they take. This feedback mechanism is your way to let us know what we’re doing right and what we could be doing better. I’ve often tweaked the structure of assignments or presentation of material based on feedback I’ve gotten in CoursEvals. I hope you’ll take some time to give thoughtful and specific answers to the open-ended questions especially. The CoursEval will be open April 20-May 3 for this course.” – Brandi Robinson
Last Day of the Course
- Post an end-of-class announcement to wrap-up to the class. Include a final request to complete the CoursEval!
- Handle any deferred grade requests (see Standings for Grading Practices)
- Remind students to download/print their work, if they desire. If the class uses an e-portfolio, recommend that students download a copy of their e-portfolio, especially if this is their last class in the program.
- Post final grades to Faculty Service Centre within 2 days of the end of the class, per University policy.
- Review and revise your course materials while everything is still fresh in your mind. Will there be a different instructor next time the course is offered? It would also be good to meet with that individual now to share your experiences.Facilitation – Challenges.
Self-Reflection Activity
Review your course schedule and prepare a personalized course facilitation plan (together with your TA if applicable) to list things to do for your first week facilitation, daily course facilitation, weekly course facilitation, mid-semester facilitation, end of course facilitation, and last day of the course facilitation.