Survey Tips

  • DO make your students aware of the survey as early as possible in your course and remind them at least once before the survey closes.
  • DO give give your student know a deadline for completion based on what makes sense for your individual course’s design and audience. For some courses, this will be as soon as the second or third class meeting, when rosters are relatively stable and students should have had an opportunity to access and review the syllabus and other required materials. For other courses, this could be as late as the third week of classes. Remember you are balancing the need for students to be “settled in” with the time by which you’d need feedback in order to make any adjustments in a way that would be meaningful. DON’T feel pressured to use a standardized date – you know your course, its audience, and your own capability to make time to review results and think about adjustments.
  • DO talk about the survey in class, not just letting students know it is available, but ensuring they know you are looking at the results. 
  • DO be aware of student privacy. You will know which students completed the survey if you use Compass or Moodle, but you will not be able to identify their individual answers unless only one student takes the survey.
  • DO, regardless of class size, inform students that you will know if they completed the survey or not if it is done through Compass or Moodle but you will not see their individual responses, only aggregated responses.
  • DO be objective as you review the results, focusing on trends; specifically, focus on trends you can tie to one or two concrete adjustments you’d like to make when possible.
  • DO be aware of available teaching resources you can use as you consider adjustments. Many departments, schools, and colleges host a wide variety of such resources – reach out to your department head or chair if you aren’t aware of where these resources can be accessed. The Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) also has a wealth of resources. Please see a list of the Spring 20201 faculty training and support opportunities as an example.
  • DON’T focus on extreme responses or on feedback pointing out elements that aren’t really related to students’ ability to succeed in the course. 
  •  DON’T use this survey if your class is small enough such that you think there is even a chance that you’d be able to trace individual responses back to students. Instead, consider providing opportunities in other ways for informal feedback.  
  • DON’T give the survey if you don’t intend to use the feedback! It is important for students to know that if they’re taking the time to complete the survey, it will be taken seriously.