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LTC

How Is Your Course Going? Let Your Students Tell You!

For instructors, having access to resources to assess learning throughout the semester and at the end of the term is important.  Assessment in the form of tests, quizzes, writing assignments, and more can help faculty gauge student learning, but wouldn’t it also be helpful to have mid-semester verbal feedback from students?  Cue the LTC’s Midterm Instructional Diagnosis (MID).

In the MID evaluation process, a faculty facilitator (matched with instructors by the LTC), asks students three key questions:

  • What is helping your learning in this class?
  • What is hindering your learning in this class?
  • What suggestions do you have to improve the learning in this class?

The facilitator uses these questions to elicit ideas about the way a course is going.  Since the process occurs mid-semester, faculty then have time to implement student suggestions in the course or explain why they can’t make certain adjustments.  In addition to providing helpful feedback, the MID creates connections among faculty across campus and gives students a voice in their learning.  

The MID process has also been helpful in providing feedback for LTC programs.  For several years it has been used in Teaching Fellows. In January, Layla Kurt, from the department of educational administration, visited Teaching Fellows to conduct a MID.  The planning team uses the input from the cohort to make tweaks midway through the program and inform future planning.

In addition to hearing that the process is extremely helpful to recipients, we also hear from facilitators who find the MID invaluable to their own teaching.  A frequent facilitator recently said:

“I have facilitated several MIDs for faculty and courses throughout the college.  Oftentimes it feels that we can be siloed within our own departments or units on campus, and facilitating in the MID program has allowed me to interact with peers from across the university to share their passion for and commitment to better teaching.  It is a truly wonderful experience!"  

If you’re interested in requesting a MID in one of your classes, or facilitating one for a colleague, please visit the LTC’s website for teaching evaluation resources here.  Don’t have time to do one in class?  The LTC’s office of eLearning now has an online MID tool available in Isidore.  Click here for a 60 second video demonstration.

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