A mid-semester survey is an opportunity to implement student feedback to improve course design and delivery. It is a series of survey questions given halfway through the semester. The timing of a mid-semester survey makes it possible to implement the feedback to improve the students learning experience in real-time. Moreover, it allows the instructor to ask questions that are important and relevant to each unique class.
Instead of waiting until the end of the course to hear how to improve, surveying the students in the middle of the semester allows time to make small, real-time changes to improve the current experience.
Student benefits
- A chance to influence some of the decisions made in the course
- A place for their voice to be heard
Instructor benefits
- Insights into student’s perceptions
- Actionable items for remediation
Survey tools
Consider adding a mid-semester survey to your course today.
- Brightspace survey
- Pro: Built-in tool; carries over to the next time the course is taught
- Con: Clunky question types
- Qualtrics
- Pro: Anonymity guaranteed; rich analytics
- Con: Account needed, a small learning curve
- Google Forms
- Pros: Anonymity possible; easy to use
- Con: Not as much analytics
Questions to ask
If you are wondering what kinds of questions to ask, a check-in with an Instructional Designer is a good idea! They can help you craft questions that will have the most meaning to you. Here are a few examples to get you started.
- Please rate your agreement with the following technical aspects of the course
(Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree)
a. Course navigation is logical and easy to follow.b. Instructions for completing assignments are clear.
c. Assessments are a fair representation of what we are learning.
d. Course content is presented in a manner that helps me learn. - Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the course at this time?
(Extremely satisfied, somewhat satisfied, neutral, somewhat dissatisfied, extremely dissatisfied) - How challenging has the course material been thus far?
(Not at all challenging, slightly challenging, moderately challenging, very challenging, extremely challenging) - How reasonable or unreasonable has the course workload been thus far?
(Extremely reasonable, somewhat reasonable, neutral, somewhat unreasonable, extremely unreasonable) - What has been most helpful for your learning in this class so far (e.g., Describe the instructional tools or class topics with which you were most engaged)?
- What has caused you the most difficulty in terms of learning in this class so far (e.g. Describe the instructional tools or class topics with which you struggled or were least engaged)?
- Do you have any specific, actionable suggestions that you believe your professor could reasonably implement in this course in the next few weeks?
Deploying the mid-semester survey
An announcement is a good way to introduce the mid-semester survey. Many instructors use strategies that do not affect performance grades.
- Make explicit the benefit of the survey
- Introduce the survey in-class
- Set aside 5-10 minutes of class time for the students to complete
- Offer a few points of extra credit if X% of the class completes the survey
- Restrict access to course content until the student has submitted the survey
- Set a due date for the survey
- Use intelligent agents to prompt students who haven’t completed the survey to submit
What to do with the results
Once your students have completed the survey, you can pull the reports. From there, read through the data and look for trends. Is there anything that stood out that you can take action on? Not all of it will be helpful, or even possible in a 7-week time frame. The best-case scenario is that you are able to identify two key takeaways and use them to improve your teaching.
Sometimes it is hard to get feedback. It is normal to feel defensive when we get criticism, especially if we don’t feel recognized for our good contributions. Take time to process the feedback, find the nuggets that are useful, and realize that personal growth is often uncomfortable. You have taken a step at becoming a better instructor, and you should feel really proud of that!
The next step could be to acknowledge student feedback and tell students what you plan to do. Seeing you take action could encourage students to reflect on and adjust their own learning strategies. Admit when something did not work as a way to model lifelong learning and resiliency. A growth mindset is the best lens to view challenges and setbacks along the way!