You can use the Early Feedback Service to find out how students feel at the midterm point in your course. Gathering feedback at the midterm lets you make small adjustments within the same semester. Feedback surveys are anonymous and the collated report of your students' feedback is only shared with you. You can request the Early Feedback Service at or before the mid-point of any semester.
Caution: The Early Feedback Service is not a Course Evaluation Tool, and is available only until midterm. Requests for use after midterm will not be processed.
The Early Feedback Service is paper-based, to ensure a high level of participation by students in a face-to-face course. If you teach online, we have information on how to set up an online survey version of the Early Feedback Survey on our blog.
How does it work?
- Browse the six versions of the Early Feedback Form and decide which of these seems to fit best with your approach to teaching. You will need to know your preferred version when you submit your request for the Early Feedback Service.
- Make your request using the online Early Feedback Service Request Form, which will notify CIEL that you would like to order the Early Feedback Service. CIEL staff will produce the paper forms and send them to you or make them available for pick-up.
- Self-administer the Early Feedback Form to your students at the beginning of class.
- Return the completed forms to CIEL for processing. Within a day or two you will receive via email a summary report of all feedback. (See: sample page from a report).
- Share key findings with your students and discuss ways that you or they could improve their learning experience. This is a highly recommended step.
The Early Feedback Service is not an evaluation of teaching nor a course evaluation. The survey is designed to give you formative feedback from your students during an ongoing course. We keep survey responses confidential. Only you and the CIEL staff helping you with the survey will see the results.
If you would like an official end-of-term VIU Evaluation of Teaching, please contact your department chair.
Which version of the Early Feedback Form is appropriate for you?
There are several versions of the form to choose from, depending on the way you teach and manage a classroom. Indicate your form choice when you fill out the online request form to begin the process.
- General Teaching (for courses using a mix of teaching practices)
- Seminar (for courses with small enrollment and discussion focus)
- Active Learning (for courses with an activity-based design, often with students working collaboratively)
- Lecture (for courses designed as primarily instructor presentation)
- Blended (for courses in which extensive online components are integrated with face-to-face components)
- Team-Based Learning (a custom survey for participants in CIEL’s Team-Based Learning Course (Re)Design Project)
If your department needs a custom survey to reflect practices specific to your discipline or program, please contact CIEL. Please be aware that developing a custom feedback form can take several weeks
Request Early Feedback Form
Please request your Early Feedback forms and administer them in your class on a date when you still have time to respond to your students’ feedback and to adjust your course if necessary before the end of the term.
Once you receive your forms, administer them as soon as possible to maximize the time you have left to adjust your course.