Posse Student Feedback
Student perspectives and advice on teaching and learning for:
Large lecture courses:
- Students often experience content overload in large lecture classes when the lecture materials are presented for the entire class period. They suggest that instructors make time within those lectures for students to discuss the content with each other and ask questions.
- Interaction between students and other students, as well as between students and the instructor are important during large lecture classes, even if the course provides separate discussion sessions. Interaction between students in large lectures helps reinforce what the students have just learned.
- Students prefer instructors that talk directly to them rather than just reading off of the slides. Information is more difficult for students to process and retain in large lecture only classes.
Courses with multiple sections:
- When offering multiple sections of the same course, it is very important to coordinate the assignments and content between those various sections. As an example, students have taken a course where one instructor considers certain material to be useful, while another instructor does not use that same material and tells the students to ignore it, after they have done the work to read it or complete it.
- Also insure that preparation and training for teaching assistants is consistent between sections.
Issues related to teaching assistants:
- Make sure teaching assistants are adequately prepared to answer questions, especially regarding an upcoming exam. (The exam needs to be prepared far enough in advance that the TA’s will know how to answer those potential questions.)
- Make sure there is adequate communication between the lead instructor and TA’s and between multiple TA’s for a course.
- Make sure adequate training and support is provided for teaching assistants who are assigned to handle a full course.
Office hour activities:
- Offer extra office hours during the first two weeks of class, and/or stay 15 minutes after class to provide time for students to ask questions.
- Students tell us that they prefer in person versus zoom meetings, in part because sometimes they prefer extra help learning alone rather than in a group.
- Offer extra office hours during the first two weeks of class, and/or stay 15 minutes after class to provide time for students to ask questions.
Request anonymous feedback:
- Consider providing an informal anonymous mid-semester course evaluation opportunity for students.
- Please request anonymous feedback regarding potential personal speech issues and other presentation skills.
And general suggestions for all of us:
- Spend part of the first class period telling students how the course will be run and providing advice to how best to approach the course work and earn a good grade in the class.
- Emphasize or diagram what to focus on before starting the lecture. Talk about how that material relates to the big picture, how individual items fit together, what to focus on, and/or how what they will learn is relevant to the subject or the real world.
- Provide structured canvas materials related to the course.
- Post materials students will need to use at least a week in advance. With student’s other courses, and often work schedules, posting a day or two in advance does not provide enough time.
- It is very important to post materials related to content presented during lecture right after class. This allows students to double check assignments, due dates, and material they might have had questions about related to lecture while that content is still fresh in their minds, rather than after they have moved on to other classes and course work.
- Students would prefer instructors avoid pop quizzes for feedback, or provide them as extra credit activities rather than officially graded course material. Depending on their work schedules and other course work, they may not have had the time to go over certain material before the timing of an unannounced pop quiz.
- We enjoy learning best from those that love doing their job, both faculty instructors and teaching assistants. Share that passion with us in your courses!