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Methods course documentation
Soliciting feedback about the program (D8.1)
Logistics and scheduling information (by Raffaella Borasi)
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Choice of when and how to solicit feedback about the course
Students in the Methods Course were asked for their "official"
feedback on the course only once, at the very end of the semester; note,
however, that these students often provided informal feedback about the
course major activities either in response to specific assignments or spontaneously
in their journals.
The final "official feedback" on the course was solicited in
three complementary ways:
- An anonymous open-ended questionnaire designed by the instructor,
where each student was asked to identify what they liked and/or disliked
(and why) about key elements of the course, and to rank the readings done
throughout the course (see Instructional materials for the text
of this questionnaire in different implementations of the course). Note
that this questionnaire was also intended to implicitly serve the role
of a "walk down memory lane," as it identified key events in
the course and it invited participants to think about their own experiences
and reactions to those events.
- An anonymous college-wide evaluation questionnaire, which
asked students to rate the quality of the course and the instructor on
a scale of 1 to 5, and to respond to four open-ended questions (what did
you like most in the course/why; what did you disliked most in the course/why;
overall, how would you rate this instructor; do you have any suggestions
for improving this course). Since the role of this college-wide questionnaire
was mainly to monitor course quality and students' satisfaction, we have
not reported its results here.
- A class discussion, where the instructor solicited individual
comments on the course and suggestions for improvement, and encouraged
the whole class to react to those. Although anonymity could not be preserved
in this context, this setting had the advantage of having individuals hear
other students' reactions to the same activity and/or share opinions about
the suggested modifications.
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Scheduling of questionnaires and discussions
- Open-ended questionnaire designed by the instructor: This
questionnaire was distributed in the second-last class meeting along with
the description of the requirements for the students' final reflection
(see Section D8.2); students had to complete the questionnaire for homework
and bring it with them to the last meeting. In this way, we hoped that
each student could take the necessary time to think through the key activities
identified in the questionnaire, look back at the readings they were asked
to rank, and write their responses -- thus truly allowing this questionnaire
to serve the function of a "walk down memory lane" in preparation
to their final written reflections. At the same time, filling the questionnaire
at home allowed students who might have been concerned with the anynimity
of their responses to type them and thus not to be identified by their
hand-writing. The completed questionnaires were collected by a student
in class, and not given to the instructor until after the grading of the
course had been completed.
- Class discussion: This session was scheduled for about
1 hour in the last class meeting. Students were invited to look back at
the open-ended course evaluation questionnaire they had completed for homework,
and to select some comments and suggestions they wanted to share with the
rest of the class (the only disadvantage of this set-up being that the
instructor could not monitor who turned in their questionnaires, and some
students ended up not providing their feedback).
- Anonymous college-wide evaluation questionnaire: As required
by university regulations, students filled this questionnaire in class,
while the instructor left the room; completed questionnaires were again
collected by a student, who sealed the package and gave it to the instructor
only after the grading of the course had been completed. This questionnaire
was distributed to the students during their last class meetings, right
after the class discussion, so that they could benefit from the information
gathered in that setting in writing this final evaluation of the course.
Students had about 15-20 minutes to complete the questionnaire.
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