I teach high school social studies, and Earth science for an independent study based charter school in Southern California. I teach in a blended classroom where I see students face to face twice a week. The rest of the week students work independently or collaborate using different online tools. I also use a flipped teaching model where my students are expected to do what would normally be the lecture portion of the class independently. In class we review the content and do class activities based on the readings.
Since I knew nothing about student perception surveys, I started with a Google Search. I was fortunate enough to find Elena Aguilar’s article “How to Foster Student Feedback” on Eduotopia.org (http://www.edutopia.org/fostering-student-feedback). I used the questions that she suggested and then added some about areas that I observed as problems during the school year. During my analysis of the data, I realized that I had not added questions about the use of technology in the classroom. I will definitely be adding these questions in next time.
My final survey consisted of 12 statements and 2 open ended questions:
- I learned a lot in this class.
- I felt challenged by this class.
- I was clear about the goals for this class.
- I felt like the content of this class connected to my life and was meaningful to me.
- I felt like you respected me.
- I felt like you gave me timely and useful feedback on my work.
- I felt like you were fair.
- I felt like you had high expectations for me.
- I felt I could get help if I needed it.
- I found that the assignment instructions were clear and easy to follow.
- I used the assignment rubrics to guide my work.
- I felt that my questions were answered in a timely manner.
- Which project/assignment did you enjoy the most? Why?
- What advice can you give me for how I can improve my class next year?
I created the online survey using Google Forms. For the statement questions, I used the linear scale feature in Google Forms. The open ended questions were created as paragraph questions. I wanted to track the classes that the students were commenting on, so I provided a check box questions where they could identify which course they were in (Earth Science, World History, U.S. History).
I wanted to make the survey anonymous so I did not have the form collect email addresses. This meant that I could not formally track who completed the survey, so participation was optional. I felt that an anonymous survey would help the students feel they could be open and honest about their answers. In order to make sure that only my students participated, students needed to be logged into their school account to complete the survey. I also set the form so that students could only participate once. I allowed a 2 week window before finals for student participation.
I sent out the following message from our online grade book to all of the students in my core courses. This message was based on the message in Elena Aguilar’s article.
Dear Students,
I would like your feedback about my classes and my teaching this year. Your ideas and feelings are really important to me. I'll use this information to make my classes better next year. It's really important that you are as honest as possible.
Please take the survey seriously. I invite you to be critical, but please make sure that it is constructive criticism. Remember that the purpose of this survey is for you to tell me how I can continue to improve as a teacher.
It has been a pleasure being your teacher this year.
Thanks,
Ms. Mathews
The overall participation rate for the survey was 66%. My 10th grade World History students had the highest participation rate at 76%. The participation rate for the U.S. History (11th grade) and Earth Science (mainly 9th grade) was about the same with a little more than half of the students in those classes participating. I was a little disappointed with the rate of participation, so I will make participation in the survey mandatory next time.
One of the difficulties I had when analyzing the survey data was deciding the acceptable threshold for determining effectiveness. Growth cannot occur if the only goal is to get a “perfect score”. It is important not to focus only on the negative; student surveys are a way to recognize what works in the classroom as well. In the end I decided to look at the data for each question as a whole and broken out by class. I also grouped the questions into three categories: student engagement, student trust, and classroom procedures. Once I looked at the data for each group of questions, I came up with a list of recommendations for addressing areas of improvement. Finally I used the recommendations to come up with an action plan for this next school year.
Here are the changes that I am going to make to my teaching practices based on the analysis of the student feedback that I received:
- Create a more coherent set of procedures for my courses. These procedures need to apply when the students are in the physical classroom and when they are doing independent study at home. Post these in the classroom, on my website, and in Canvas.
- Make sure students understand the purpose and theme of the content that they are studying and tie that purpose to the the students’ lives.
- Get feedback from students about tutoring, assignments, and projects etc. at the beginning and end of each semester.
- Make assignment instructions follow the same format for all assignments. Go over the assignment instructions together in class. Have students grade drafts using the rubric as part of the turn in process.
The process of creating, implementing, and analyzing the student survey data has been an invaluable learning experience. While reading through the results was sometimes a little ego bruising, the honesty of the feedback has given me insight into my teaching that I could not have gotten any other way. I feel that the action plan that I created based on the student feedback is more focused and has a better chance of succeeding.
Works Cited
Aguilar, E. (2009, June 9). How to Foster Student Feedback [Web log post]. Retrieved June 21, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/fostering-student-feedback
Crow, T. (2011). The View from the Seats: Student Input Provides a Clearer Picture of What Works in Schools. Journal of Staff Development, 32(6), 24.
Davis, V. (2014, June 10). 3 Ways of Getting Student Feedback to Improve Your Teaching. Retrieved June 22, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-feedback-improves-your-teaching-vicki-davis
English, D., Burniske, J., Meibaum, D., & Lachlan-Hache, L. (2016). Using Student Surveys as a Measure of Teaching Effectiveness (Rep.). Washington, D.C: American Institutes for Research.
Gonzalez, J. (2014, October 23). 5 Reasons You Should Seek Your OWN Student Feedback. Retrieved June 22, 2016, from http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/student-feedback/
Hanover Research. (2013). Student Perception Surveys and Teacher Assessments (Rep.). Retrieved June 21, 2016, from http://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/Hanover-Research-Student-Surveys.pdf
Larrivee, B. (2000). Transforming Teaching Practice: Becoming the critically reflective teacher. Reflective Practice, 1(3), 293-307. doi:10.1080/713693162
MET Project. (2012). Asking Students About Teaching: Student perception surveys and their implementation. (Policy and Practice Brief). Seattle, WA: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Retrieved June 28, 2016, from http://k12education.gatesfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Asking_Students_Practitioner_Brief.pdf
Student Surveys: Using Student Voice to Improve Teaching and Learning. (2016, June 14). Retrieved June 28, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/practice/student-surveys-using-student-voice-improve-teaching-and-learning
