7 Elements for Effective Mid-term Course Evaluations

Mid-term evaluations are an opportunity for instructors to gather feedback on the curriculum and teaching approach while the course is in progress. This enables instructors to quickly act on the feedback and implement changes for continuous improvement. Making changes to the course early on can increase student engagement and learning.

Mid-term evaluations are also beneficial as they establish an ongoing feedback dialogue with students. This gives students the opportunity to raise any concerns and directly benefit from the implemented course changes. Instructors benefit from mid-term evaluations as they gauge student expectations, provide quality data, enhance teaching effectiveness and improve end-of-term assessments. Today’s post will look at the essential steps in creating a mid-term course evaluation process from timing to implementing changes.

1. Timing:

   When to conduct a mid-term evaluation depends on the length of your course. It is recommended that mid-term assessments be administered half-way through the course delivery cycle. This gives students a significant amount of time to become integrated in the course and to provide insightful feedback.

2. Design questionnaire:

   It is recommended that you create an evaluation form specifically for mid-term assessments. You can use the same form that is administered at the end of term, but using a mid-term questionnaire will allow you to tailor your questions. Conducting a mid-term evaluation will enable you to ask more reflective questions to your students such as:

   • What are the strengths of this course?
   • Do you find the format of this class helpful to the way you learn?
   • What approaches does the instructor use that help you learn?
   • What changes could be made in the course to improve your learning?
   • What changes could be made to the teaching approach that could improve your learning?
3. Communicate:

   It is important that you take the time in class to explain the mid-term evaluation process to your students. Inform students that their responses will remain completely anonymous and will only be used to improve the course and their learning. Set the stage for an open feedback discussion by letting your students know that the results will be shared and discussed in class. It is useful to provide students with examples of how past student feedback made improvements to the course to increase engagement.

4. Administer evaluations:

   It is recommended that you schedule time into your class to complete mid-term evaluations to increase participation. Schedule 10 minutes at the beginning, or end, of class to complete the online assessment. Allow students to full-out evaluations in class on a laptop, phone or mobile device or provide computer lab time. You could also ask students to complete the evaluation outside of class as a course assignment to boost response rates.

5. Interpret results:

   Once mid-term evaluations are completed, you need to analyze and interpret the results. Be sure to refer to our previous posts ‘5 Ways to Use Course Evaluations for Teaching Development’ and ‘A 6 Step Guide to Using Course Evaluation Feedback For Continuous Improvement’ for tips on how to analyze results.

6. Share feedback:

   It is important that you close the feedback loop by sharing and discussing the results with your students. Devote class time to go over the mid-term feedback and let your students know how you’re going to address their concerns. Where you may not be able to implement all the indicated improvements, highlight 2-3 areas where you will be making curriculum or teaching approach alterations. Sharing the results with your students will increase their interest and engagement with the course evaluation process.

7. Implement changes:

   Obtaining mid-term feedback is key to identifying areas for teaching and course improvement. The teaching areas for improvement act as the springboard for creating a professional development plan. If the feedback indicates that certain teaching approaches are not effective you can improve this by utilizing opportunities such as training, mentoring, workshops, tutorials, books, etc. If certain topics or materials are not resonating with the class, this feedback can form the basis for a curriculum change action plan.