Stanford
TeachingWriting

Midquarter Evaluations

During week four or five every quarter, PWR asks all instructors to conduct a midterm evaluation for each of their sections.  This process provides an invaluable opportunity for you to receive useful feedback on your course that you can take into account as you move through the remainder of the quarter.  

You have several different options for midquarter evaluations.

No matter which option you choose, the midquarter evaluation is for your use alone, so you can use it to ask questions that target areas of the class that you're particularly curious about.   See below for more details.

After you receive the midquarter evaluation from your students, be sure to take time to thank your students for their feedback, to reflect on the suggestions, to invite further conversation as necessary, and to implement changes in a timely manner. You also could make an appointment with the Associate Director or one of the Course Coordinators to discuss the feedback you received and brainstorm ways to address the student's suggestions.

Create Your Own Survey

If you decide to design your own midquarter feedback survey, try to keep your questions simple, clear and direct. The following are questions that many instructors have used in the past as the basis for their midquarter evaluations:

  1. What is working well with the class so far?  What should we keep doing? Please explain your answer.
  2. What could work better? Please explain your answer.
  3. What could you, as a student, do to make the rest of the quarter even more successful?
  4. Do you have any further comments or suggestions?

You also might ask about a particular activity or pedagogical approach that you want feedback on.

As you design your survey, consider how you want to distribute it. Most lecturers find Google forms to be the easiest way to collect student feedback, though you could certainly create a paper survey or use a program like Surveymonkey.  All of these options allow your students to give anonymous, constructive and guided feedback. 

SEE ALSO EXAMPLES OF MIDQUARTER EVALUATION FORMS ON OUR PWR CANVAS SITE.

Set Up a Small Group Feedback Session (SGFS) For Your Class

You may prefer to have CTL run a SGFS for your class.  The particular benefit to this model is that, through the discussion, students learn about each other and about the range of responses to the class, rather than simply reporting their own individual response to the instructor.  Learn more about CTL's SGFS option.

Use a CTL Online Evaluation Form

A final option is that you could work with the CTL to create a customized survey for your class.  CTL will create the survey and send you the anonymous results; they offer short form as well as long form options that allows a bit more customization and specificity in the questions.   After receiving the evaluation results, you can set up an appointment with CTL to have one of their consultants discuss how to act on the feedback you receive.