Ask CTLT
QUESTION: I’m teaching an online course this semester and would like to get some feedback about areas I may need to revise for the next semester when I teach this course again. How should I approach this?
ANSWER:
I’m impressed that you’re already thinking about next semester . . . and your timing
couldn’t be better! Here are three ideas to help you. Choose one or all:
- Ask your students. If you want to know if your course is “working” for your students, ask them. If you are using Blackboard, you’ll find the survey tool useful for collecting anonymous student feedback. Depending on what you hope to gain from the survey, you may want to ask student questions such as:
- What in this course helped you to learn?
- What in this course prevented you from learning?
- What was missing from this course that would have helped you to learn better?
- What would you recommend that I do differently in this course in future semesters?
- Do a self-review of your course. Choose a rubric; evaluate your course based on the criteria,
decide which two or three areas you want to address, and make/implement those changes! Last spring semester, we at the CTLT developed a straightforward rubric that you can use for your self-review. The rubric is available online.
- Set up an Online/Blended Course Review with CTLT. The process is straightforward, and the feedback you receive is both formative and confidential. This process is intended to help you make decisions about how you might make your course more effective for you and your students. The process includes an initial meeting, a course review, a feedback phase, and an action phase. You can obtain more specific information about the Online/Blended Course Review process on the CTLT website.
